


Chivalry Is Not Dead

by artanis_aman



Series: Chivalry is Not Dead [1]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alpha Will, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Bigotry & Prejudice, Blow Jobs, Kissing, Knotting, M/M, Miscommunication, Omega Derek, Pack Dynamics, Resolved Sexual Tension, Rimming, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Wolves, eventually, fluff with smut, hot and oblivious Derek!, insecure dex!, shifting, these boys are hopeless
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-09 10:19:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 28,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8887168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artanis_aman/pseuds/artanis_aman
Summary: William Pointedexter doesn't know which is worse--that everyone kinda thinks he's a designationist conservative asshole or that every time Derek Nurse steps on the ice he totally looses control of his biology and wants to growl at every alpha and beta player even thinking about checking him. He finds it easier to just be seen as the conservative jerk that has an issue with being paired with an omega as his d-man partner.  But then, fucking Nursey has to keep being smart, and annoying, and funny, and annoying!





	1. Can't Fight This Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> I'm obsessed with these boys! This work has no beta :( All edits welcomed! The next chapter will be posted on Tuesday. Please enjoy!

Will wasn't prepared for Derek Nurse. 

 

Not because he was an omega hockey player, something that designationist society found "incongruent" with his "biological imperatives".  (Which, by the way, was bullshit.  Will had played with omegas in his high school league and knew they were as tough, hard working, and nasty at hockey as any other alpha or beta.  Also designationist science like literally didn't make any sense.  People needed to read the research for fucks sake. And anyway, Dex had no issues with Bitty and Chowder, the other omegas on the team.)

 

It also wasn't because the dude was always telling people to "chill bro" and made everything in life look super easy and carefree. 

 

It wasn't even because he was definitely a rich kid that for sure didn't have to pick up dining hall shifts to make extra cash or work on a Lobster boat every summer since he was 13.

 

It was because Dex was instantly, and painfully attracted to Derek Nurse.

 

It fucking sucked.

 

First, way to fuck up team dynamics.  Nursey was not only on his team but his D-man partner.  Second, he wasn't shitty at hockey or anything, he played fucking gorgeous hockey, which made everything go from pretty awful to fucking unbearable. Third, the guy was like, hyper-levels of attractive and, little aside, had no business even thinking about slumming it with a red-headed, poor as fuck, alpha from Maine. Fourth, had he mentioned? The dude was his D-man partner! What the hell was Dex suppose to do when the guy next to him smelled so good he just wanted to roll around in his sweaty hockey pads?

 

When the team all got together in early August to start training with Samwell's other athletic programs, Will was totally caught off guard by Nursey. Since no one knew Will even a little bit, his shock came off like straight anger.

 

Will honestly didn't know which was worse--that everyone kinda thought he was a designationist conservative _asshole_ or that every time Derek Nurse stepped on the ice he totally lost control of his biology and wanted to growl at every alpha and beta player even thinking about checking him. He found it easier, at first, to just be seen as the conservative jerk that had an issue with being paired with an omega as his d-man.  Let Nurse be put-off by his demeanor and keep his distance.  He ran with his freshman dorm suitemates during the full moon, made sure to never shift around Derek, and generally avoided the guy when he was feeling homesick or vulnerable.

 

But then, fucking Nursey, had to keep being smart, and annoying, and funny, and _annoying_! 

 

Will wasn't prepared for Derek Nurse.  And now, 2 months into Samwell, still wasn't prepared for him.  But Nursey was getting to him, he felt the cracks in his facade spreading, widening each time Nursey smiled, shook his head and called Dex “a grumpy old man”.

 

He had it soooo bad. So. bad.

 

-O-

 

Will was just trying to figure out how to more effectively push Derek away when their pair was called on the ice.  They're first game of the season was coming up in a couple of weeks and the coaches were pushing them hard to get their line changes and passing down tight.

 

Just as he hopped over the boards to get into position against their first line guys, Derek skated up next to him, his smile taking on a conspiratory glint. "Hey, wanna mess with Ransom and Holster with me?"

 

"Huh?"  Will was distracted by Derek's mouth doing that little quirk it was doing.

 

"You shoot lefty and righty, yeah?"  Derek's eyes were all alight with mischief and it was such a damn pretty look on him.

 

"Uh, yeah, why?"

 

"Let's switch sides after coach blows the whistle--it'll totally mess up their game.  Come'on they've been creaming us in practice since August."

 

"Yeah, no."

 

"Come'on Dex, it'll be hilarious."  Dex needed to figure out a way to federally outlaw Derek Nursey's puppy eyes.  He had to pull every thread of control from his core to hold onto the fact that he was trying to push Nursey _away_.

 

"Tough, get in position."

 

Nursey's face fell but he didn't protest anymore.  The first line creamed them again (but really, Bitty and Jack on the same line were magic) and it was a tired drag of drills and more drills until the end of practice.

 

The locker room was never a reprieve for Dex either.  Samwell had followed some unwritten code that D-man lockers should be close together so Dex had the pleasure of smelling Nursey's intoxicating scent while he tried to strip down and hit the showers. He focused really hard on the locker room chirping instead.

 

"Someday."  Nurse called while he bent over to untie his skates. "We're gonna score on you fools.  Just wait. Right Dex?"

 

Dex scoffed. "Yeah right, maybe when it's just Bitty left on the line."

 

Nursey's smile kinda faltered at that and the room's rustle and raucous dimmed a touch.  Dex winced internally. Probably a bad idea to talk about players graduating at the start of the season.

 

Ransom started, "What do you mean D--" but was cut off by their assistant coach coming in to prep them for next practice.

 

They all filed into the showers and back out again, whatever Ransom was gonna say forgotten.  

 

It was Nursey's turn to put away the gear (tadpole privilege) and Dex stayed behind to help him.  Unlike the other times when Nursey would shoot him a grateful look and a "thanks man", he kinda stopped with his hand around one of the netted bags. "You know I can handle a few gear bags, right?"

 

Dex was taken aback by the most not-chill tone he had ever heard from Nursey and fumbled over a "Yeah?"

 

"Okay. I just--"  Nursey bit at his lip. "I mean, no one expects you to help because I'm the omega one here or anything."

 

Oh. _Oh._ Will had to keep reminding himself about the whole designationist shit thing.  His own pack were such hardcore traditionalists that he tended to completely forget how the team perceived him.  He would never think that Nursey _couldn_ 't handle some gear bags it was just... kinda drilled into him that omegas had to be doted upon, always catered to and never wanting.  His family's traditionalist values never held that omegas weren't equal to alphas or betas just that they were special, valued and should be treated as such.  

 

It honestly made a lot of sense to Will because omegas’ biology made them integral to the conception process within a pack—not only because they were the most fertile designation but because most packs couldn’t conceive _without_ an omega in the ranks.  Omega pheromones were literally _that_ important.  Somewhere along the line, designationists pushed the idea that omegas were _lesser_ than other designations, weaker, more submissive, more prone to needing a firm hand. It was so contrary to Dex’s own personal values, sometimes his mind couldn’t even wrap his head around it.

 

"I uh. I can _not_ help if you want." Will finally managed.

 

"Nah man, I just didn't want you to think..."  Nursey sighed. "Nevermind. I appreciate it.  Come on, I'm starving."

 

-O-

 

The start of the season was a great way for Dex to distract himself from Nursey...kind of.  On the one hand, Nursey was incredible to play with and therefore still distracting.  On the other hand though, they were so focused on their game that whatever weird/ annoyed energy that had been constantly bubbling up between them was totally thrown into game days.

 

But not getting into constant fights with Nursey also meant that Nursey kind of started acting like they were getting along, which made Dex work extra hard to ignore him.

 

It was the middle of October when it started slipping. 

 

They were on a roadie out in Denver, gearing up to play Airforce. The coaches were going hard about playing clean, playing smart and not letting the other team get to them and affect their play.  Dex was a bit confused about the whole thing until Shitty went on a little rant about how omegas still weren’t allowed on the Airforce team and they were all designationist dickheads.

 

Nursey was quiet beside him in a very _not_ chill way.  Dex watched disapprovingly as he taped, ripped off, and re-taped his stick.  Before Dex could muster something somewhat reassuring, Jack called them into a huddle.  And then they were shouting ‘go team’ and walking out to the bench.

 

The first period was an absolute mess. 

 

The second period was worse. It didn’t take long at all for Airforce to start targeting Bitty.  Thankfully the dude was fast as fuck and Rans and Holtz could keep their shit on lock. 

 

The second line was a different story.  Nursey was a big dude and a d-man—if the checks were a little harder or a little bit unnecessary those weren’t really calls refs were gonna make.  That was pretty shitty and all, but the trash talk was the worst.  Dex had to watch helplessly as Nursey’s eyes turned colder and more distant with every designationist, fucked up thing that was spewed at him by the other players.

 

Dex’s hands were shaking with anger as they walked back to the locker room after the second period.

 

The coaches congratulated their play, encouraged them to keep their chin up and stay focused.  Dex was only half listening. It was all _wrong_.  Nursey’s mouth was twisted up weird and he kept looking at the ground like he’d rather be there than playing the next period.

 

After the coaches gave them their tid-bits, and everyone had a few minutes to get water and re-tape and shit, Dex had made his decision.

 

“Nurse.”

 

Derek looked up, eyes a little distracted. “What’s up bro?”

 

“You gotta score on the next power play, shut these guys up.” Dex said earnestly.  He needed Nursey _alive_ \--smiling all smooth and easy, executing dekes like God’s gift to man, and showing off his porn-worthy stick work.

 

“Refs aren’t calling anything Dex, you think we’re gonna get a power play?”  Dex almost flinched at Nursey’s tone—a defeated sound that was leagues away from his normal playful chirping.

 

“If I get you that power play, you gotta promise to take it to the net.”

 

That got Nursey’s attention, his brow furrowed and he opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the coaches rounding them up.

 

Dex spent the first line’s shift pumping himself up.  He didn’t really want to do what he was about to do—his mom would definitely be pissed.  But if she were here maybe she would see what was going on and wouldn’t ream him out too hard.

 

When he and Nurse were subbed in, it was during a face-off.  The other team had actually been called on a holding penalty against Wicks.  It gave Dex a few minutes to get in the head- space.  He looked over to Nurse, watching the face-off in a resigned sort of way.  Dex hardened his eyes and looked over the crowd, wondering if everyone in the stands hated Nurse a little bit for doing something he was so clearly born to do.  His eye caught on a pretty girl wearing the #15 jersey of one of the d-man that was spewing the worst hate-talk.

 

“Okay.”  Dex whispered to himself. “Let’s go.”

 

Wicks lost the face off and the Airforce team charged into their zone.  Dex covered the backdoor and fought for the puck against the boards.

 

“Bet your girl can play better hockey than you bro—fucking weak.”

 

The dude growled, “Fuck off.”

 

But Dex won the puck, probably because #15 was surprised to hear any trash-talk from him at all.  By rule, he never did it on the ice.  He had done it, once, in midgets but his mom yelled at him in the car and told him if he couldn’t be a respectable, sportsmanlike player than she was going to pull him out of hockey faster than a fight for the puck in a face-off.  Dex had kept his mouth shut during games after that.  He even felt a little guilty about some good-natured chirping in the locker rooms. 

 

But this was for Nurse.  And he had a feeling at least a couple of guys on the other team had a short temper—and he was banking on one of them losing their head.

 

The next time he checked #15 in the neutral zone, the dude fell forward and Dex sneered, “Bet you like it down there on your knees, little bitch.”

 

He kept moving through the play and didn’t hear what the guy said back.

 

It only took the third chirp to get what he wanted.  He checked #15 into the boards in the scrimmage for the puck, “Don’t look now but you’re girl’s thinking about letting me knot her.”

 

“Mother fucker, shut the fuck up!” The dude pushed back against Dex, elbowing him with his shoulder.

 

“Playing this weak hockey, it’s a wonder she fucks you at all.”

 

#15 shoved against Dex’s chest, “Oh you wanna go? That it?”

 

Dex kept his gloves on and stick angling for the puck so when the dude’s gloved fist punched him along the jaw, Dex didn’t try and stop it.  The whistle blew and the other guys on both their teams descended on them.

 

#15’s team kept him back every time he tried to lunge toward Dex. “Little bitch, you wanna start fights but not finish them, huh?”

 

The ref forced him into the box, and only gave him a 2 minute penalty.  But that was all they needed.

 

“What the hell did you say to that guy?”  Nurse’s eyes were bewildered, but it was a much better look than the dead stare he was sporting in the first and second period.

 

“Doesn’t matter.  It's all you now.”  Dex pushed out his mouth guard and worked at his jaw as they got into position.

 

“You alright son, need a trainer?” The ref skated by him, whistle in hand.

 

“Nah ref, I’m good.”

 

“Alright.”

 

At first, they couldn’t make anything happen. One of the dudes got a breakaway but Dex was able to get back quick enough to turn over the puck again.  It was all passing and attempts for half a precious minute. But then Dex made a quick pass up to O’Meara who passed back to Nurse. Beautiful fucking Nurse, who did a nasty deke behind the net, got the puck and fucking shoved it right past the goalie’s thigh.

 

And there, that 1000 watt smile.  Dex skated right over to him, throwing his arms around his shoulder while Wicks, O’Meara, and Wagner rubbed his helmet and tapped his stick.

 

“That’s more like it.”  Dex yelled over the booing of the crowd.

 

Ransom and Holster subbed them out shortly after that, all smiles and nods. “Fucking sick, Nurse, that’s how you do it.”

 

Nurse’s goal must have kicked something into gear for the team.  Not one minute on the ice and Jack scored a filthy goal, top shelf, off of Bitty’s assist.  Dex and the rest of the bench spent the remaining minutes on their feet, hooting and banging their sticks against the boards.  A 2-0 victory had never been sweeter.

 

They were all amped up in the locker room.  Every team member throwing Nursey in a headlock and pounding his fist. Dex watched it all approvingly.  Before he hit the showers, Nurse caught his arm.

 

“Hey man I—“ He paused uncharacteristically. “Just, thanks man.”

 

“That goal was all you bro.” Dex shrugged and pulled away.  It wouldn’t do either of them very good to let Nurse keep having skin-to-skin contact with him.

 

Nursey’s smile was crooked but it was there.  “Yeah but, thanks for having my back. I… nevermind” He rubbed a little shyly at the back of his neck.

 

Dex shouldn’t have, but he _wanted_ to know. “What?”

 

“Nothing, it’s just, when I know the talk is gonna get like that, degrading as fuck, I just try and like zone out, disassociate it all.  When you said that shit about the powerplay it—it helped me get back in the game, you know? It helped a lot.”

 

Dex sighed. “Nurse.  The only way to prove people wrong in this game is to play the sickest hockey they’ve ever seen.  The trash talk is wrong and shit, but your hockey is better.  You get me?”  Dex hoped he was making sense.  He didn’t want Nurse disassociating or whatever ever again.  He wanted him playing the best fucking hockey he could play and being proud of it. And making people see it and try and fucking deny it. 

 

“Yeah Dex, I get you.” He said with a soft smile. “Hockey first, feelings second.”

 

“Exactly.” Dex let him have that, noticed the way his tone tried to lighten to get back on steady, chill ground.

 

 

 -O-

 

The game against Airforce was the beginning of the end.  The final nail in the coffin though, came a little later that month. Dex was walking into the Haus to go over an econ problem set with Ransom when he overheard Bitty, Nursey, Jack and Shitty talking in the kitchen.  At first, Dex was going to shrug out a hey and keep it moving, but he heard a thread of the conversation that made him pause.

 

"Seriously, Nurse, if you want us to say something we will.  We literally will not tolerate desginationist bullshit on this team. You know Lardo would love to get all lecture-mode on his ass."  Shitty sounded earnest albeit high as fuck.

 

"Thanks Shitty, but he hasn't actually _said_ anything.  It's not really that bad."  That was Nurse, and Dex could feel all the places where his chest instantly tightened

 

"Sometimes things can be implied."  Bitty offered, his soft, caring voice turned up high. "It might be worth a conversation at least."

 

"Nah.  Things could get weird--I'll figure something out guys." Dex sucked in a breath at the sound of Nurse's voice.  It sounded...dejected.  Suddenly, being an asshole to Nursey was not okay at all.  Dex would not stand for being the cause of _any_ omega sounding like that, let alone Derek Nurse.

 

"Just let us know."  Jack said simply.

 

Dex finally shut the front door, a little forcefully behind him.  Before passing the kitchen doorway he made a point of calling out. "'Sup guys."

 

He only glanced in as he passed but everyone looked as expected, tense and awkward.

 

A chorus of "heys and what ups" followed him down the hall.  He was too red and too raw to be able to smooth things over at that moment.  It probably would look like he heard them anyway.  He'd have to start the next day at practice.

 

Problem was, he didn't know how to act normal around Nursey.  He was constantly in his head about every comment and chirp that came to mind.  Being an asshole was easier because it didn't feel like anyone could read into his actions and think-- _holy fuck that kid is totally crushing on his d-man partner_.

 

Dex decided to start small.

 

"Hey, Nurse."  Dex said as he pulled on his skate.

 

"Yeah?"  Nursey's attention zoned right in on him, like he was shocked he was even being addressed.  Fuck, he'd been such a dick.

 

"I think we should try out your idea."  _Please don't let his cheeks go red, Please. don't let his cheeks go red._

 

"uhhhh..."

 

"About switching sides on Holtz and Ransom."  Dex hyper-focused on lacing up his skates and bled every ounce of 'casual' in his tone.

 

"Are you serious?!"  Dex glanced up at Nursey and instantly wished he hadn't.  He'd never be able to unsee that grin.  And that grin would make him do anything for Nursey, literally anything.

 

"Yeah. I'm sick of them ragging on us.  Let's tell Chowder though.  You know he'll flip out if we don't."

 

"Fuck yeah! Knew you weren't gonna be a grumpy old man all the time." Nursey kept his smile on, all bright and perfect.

 

"Dude. Chill. You're gonna give us away."  Dex rolled his eyes affectionately.

 

"I feel like I'm in the twilight zone right now.  You're not being grumpy and you just used the word chill. Are you feeling okay? Have aliens inhabited your body? Are you a hologram of the former William Poindexter?"

 

Dex laughed and shoved playfully at Nursey's shoulder.  Which, was a bad idea because touching Nursey in general was going to be something he would have to work up to.  He had to keep it small, real small or he'd look like a two-faced freak. "Whatever man.  If we're gonna do this we can't half-ass it."

 

Nursey could not keep the shock from his face.  He tried by layering it with awe, confusion, and suspicion but the shock was always there--making him look kinda dazed and stoned out.

 

"You alright there Nursey?" Holtser called from the other side of the locker room. "You look like you just saw Zimmerman naked."

 

The room snickered and Jack scowled.

 

"More like I saw your mom naked."  Nursey retorted weakly but the shock was ebbing away.

 

The switching thing was stupid….but also awesome.  They actually scored a goal against Rans and Holster which totally pissed them off and caused Dex and Nursey to be charged with two weeks of gear duty.  But it was worth it for the way Nursey skated over to him and bumped their helmets together. "Fuck yeah Dex! What a beut!"

 

 

-O-

 

It got easier after that.  Nursey was still annoying--like rich boy pretentious as fuck sometimes.  That meant they still fought.  Once, Holtser referred to them as ‘lover's quarrels’ and Dex almost vomited with anxiety.  But the rest of the team just busted out laughing and Dex thought _hey, I'm hiding in plain sight_.

 

By the start of November, he kinda had a handle on it.  He chirped Nursey, and fought with Nursey, and generally engaged him in conversation but he didn't invite him out anywhere after practice and he didn't offer to do homework with him and he definitely did not stay near him during Haus parties.

 

The morning after their big game against BC, the team all filed into the Holloway dining hall for team brunch.  They shuffled through line, picking out strictly meal-plan allowed items and Dex grabbed the siracha for Nursey when he grabbed the ketchup for himself.

 

He slid in next to Nursey at the long wooden table (because they sat together now, shoulder to shoulder).  He passed the siracha over to him, and didn’t hesitate to load on his own ketchup.

 

“Thanks man.”  Nursey cast him a grateful smile and turned back to his conversation with Lardo about… well Dex couldn’t really follow but there was a lot of ‘ism’ terms and it seemed really deep.

 

Dex got into a shop talk conversation with Wagner who was still heated about the BC game.  It was a pretty shitty game, with a 1-2 loss in overtime.  They swapped recaps and commiserated on bad calls.

 

At one point, Wagner went off on a little rant about one of BC’s left wingmen.  The dude was pretty annoying, chirping and acting like he was NHL bound or some shit.  Dex thought his hockey was nothing to write home about.

 

At the end of a tirade about the dude’s constant whining to the refs, Wagner said, “Shit that dude was a little omega bitch, I’m telling you.”

 

Dex didn’t notice the table quieting down at the comment.  He surprisingly didn’t notice Nurse tense or Bitty scowl.  He was just squeezing ketchup on his plate and not thinking twice, “Bro, get your nose checked, he was definitely an alpha.” He said it jokingly because Wagner had clearly gotten all caught up and forgot the dude was definitely no omega.

 

“Shut up, Dex” Wagner responded and Dex could hear the eyeroll.

 

Call him stubborn, but he didn’t let it go. “Dude, for real, he was an alpha.  Get your nose checked, who knows, maybe the reason you never get laid is because you’re hitting on the wrong people.”

 

When Dex did look up from his food, he was shocked to find Wagner’s face red and his mouth twisted in anger.  Opps, maybe that last chirp was a little harsh? In stark contrast, Bitty looked like he was trying to hide a smile, Jack looked like an approving father and Shitty and Lardo looked solemnly proud, like he had just done some difficult Jedi trick.  Maybe Wagner was just being sensitive.

 

“I get it, bro.” Wagner said. “My bad, okay?”

 

Dex shrugged.  He had clearly missed something.  Best to change the subject. “No worries man.  But anyway, I think you really owned that dude in the second period. His edge work was weak.”

 

Conversations seemed to pick back up around them so Dex figured everything was okay.  He focused on finishing his sandwich and ignoring that longing feeling of wanting fries or even chips with his food.  Fucking meal plan.  Sometimes a college kid needed something greasy.

 

They all wrapped in different intervals.  Wagner was in the first round of people to finish up and go.  They exchanged ‘see you laters’ and Dex assumed things were back to normal.

 

It wasn’t until he was shuffling down the steps of the dining hall, that the whole thing was explained.

 

“Hey, Dex, wait up.” 

 

Dex heard Nursey coming down the stairs behind him so he stopped at the bottom and waited.

 

“Hey, you headed to North Hall?” Dex asked. He didn’t really want to walk back with Nursey but only because every day he felt his resolve slipping.

 

“Nah man, I just wanted to say thanks, for what you said in there, it means a lot.” 

 

Dex could feel his forehead crinkling. “What I said about what?”

 

“You know, that thing with Wagner.”  Nurse seemed to get a little shy, but his smile was still wide and he was directing it at Will.

 

“Uh, that dude really was an alpha.  I honestly didn’t get what his whole deal was with that.”

 

Nursey laughed like Dex had made a joke but something in Dex’s expression (maybe downright confusion) had him stopping short. “Oh my god, Dex are you serious?  He was making a chirp, shit, did you really think it was like, a slip of the tongue?”

 

Dex thought about it for a second, replaying the conversation in his mind. Oh. _Oh._

That fucking _bastard_.  He felt like marching down to the sophomore dorms and giving Wagner a piece of his mind.  Omegas were not an adjective to describe weak fucking hockey.  That was fucking rude!  Plus Bitty was like, sitting right across from him and Nursey was on Dex’s other side. What the fuck…

 

“Dex, what the fuck, are you…?”  Nurse was watching his face intently, watching the way his mind put together all the other shit that was happening at the table while Dex was just trying to avoid getting ketchup in his coleslaw.

 

And then, softer like he was suddenly stumbling on the secret of time, Nurse said, “You’re _not_ a designationist, are you?”

 

Oh, right.

 

Well, he wasn’t.  And he didn’t want to be thought of as one either, especially not by Nursey, not anymore. “No.”

 

“Then why…” Dex watched the exact second Nurse put the pieces together.  He watched the way his expression shifted from confusion, to shock, to discovery. “Dex are you a traditionalist?!”

 

Dex couldn’t fight down the blush that crept from his neck spreading all splotchy across his cheeks. “Uh, yeah, basically.”

 

“Are you fucking kidding me? There are still traditionalist packs around here?”  Nursey asked, voice filled with a mixture of awe and surprise.

 

“Not many, but yeah. Hey, don’t like, tell anyone okay?”  Dex readjusted his backpack.  He looked in the direction of North Hall and wondered if he could just kinda walk away from this conversation. Tell Nursey he was late for something and just jog away.

 

“Dex…” Nurse reached out his hand and grabbed Dex’s shoulder. “Don’t take this the wrong way but I think, at least with this team, being a traditionalist will be way less awkward than being a designationist.  Trust me.”

 

Dex sighed, how to explain? “I just, I know it’s like fucking antiquated and I think maybe Bitty and Chowder will be uncomfortable.”

 

“Is that why you were all weird when you first got here?”

 

Dex appreciated the out that explained his absurd behavior toward Nursey at the start of the year. “Yeah, kinda.  I’m sorry, I was still trying to adjust to everything.”

 

Dex looked down at the ground, thought seriously about shifting and skirting off, realized that would be way worse than finishing the conversation and looked back up.

 

Nurse was smiling softly at him and suddenly things weren’t so bad. “I knew the guy that helps me with gear, and always picks up extra baking powder for Bitty without being asked to and reviews Chowder’s homework like every other night couldn’t _really_ be an asshole.”  His smirk turned fond and Dex felt the last of the distance between them melting away.

 

“People are weird here.” Dex admitted for the first time out loud. “Like I still stop myself from serving you or Chowder a piece of pie before everybody else.”

 

“You can _always_ serve me a piece of pie before everybody else.” Nursey joked.

 

“Jerk.” Dex shoved him lightly and Nursey laughed all open and relaxed.

 

“Look, I won’t tell anyone outright but you have to quit being weird around me, fair?” Eyebrow arched and head tilted slightly to the right.

 

Dex wondered, not for the first time, how much more Nursey said with those eyebrows.  They were always going off into some dialogue that wasn’t always congruent with the one on his face.

 

“Yeah, alright.”

 

“And”  Nursey’s grin turned a familiar tint of mischievous.  “You have to let me tell Lardo we can room together on roadies now.”

 

Dex groaned internally.  What could he say to that?  _Hey, I don’t have a problem with omegas generally, just with you specifically, because I’m crushing so hard on you right now, I’d probably give you my left kidney if you asked._

 

“Fine, whatever.  I didn’t realize blackmail was your style.”  He grumped.  But his shoulders were relaxing in a way that they hadn’t since he first got a whiff of Nursey.

 

Nursey pressed his hand against his chest, feigning a wound. “I feel like you don’t know me at all Dex. But, we’ll fix that.”

 

Dex should have really been more concerned by the slyness of Nursey’s smile, the playfulness in his eyes.  But he just _wanted_ so much that he was pitifully grateful that he wouldn’t have to deny himself when it came to Nursey anymore.

 

There must have been something of resigned acceptance on his face and in his body language because Nurse just held up his fist, which Dex dutifully pounded, and turned away. “Catch ya later, bro.” He called over his shoulder.

 

All Dex could think was _shit, that just happened_. But for some reason, he was smiling when he got back to his dorm.

 

 

-O-

They didn't talk about the traditionalist thing again.  Not outright.  Maybe Nursey hinted at something to the team though, because he definitely felt more affection and open acceptance from people like Jack and Shitty and even Lardo.  He thought maybe Bitty was acting a bit sweeter too, but then Bitty had always been kind to him.

 

Sometimes, when it was just the two of them, Nurse would chirp him about some "chivalrous" thing he did and laugh when his face went hot and blended into his hair.  Dex would be grumpy about it, but not pissed.  Not like before.  And then other times, when Dex really, really needed it, Nursey would ever so subtly indulge him.  He'd ask Dex to go get him pie, or look up something for him, or bring him a sweatshirt because he was cold.  They were acts of service, small and casual.  But they went a long way to setting Dex straight again.  Things in the world felt more manageable when he had an omega (scratch that, had Derek) to dote on and please.

 

But then there was the Haus party.

 

Dex wanted to skip it.  He hadn't endured a Haus party since he and Nursey actually started getting along.  And Dex had promised to quit acting weird around Nursey so he couldn't pull the same _I'm really engrossed in this person's conversation and can't even mingle with my teammates_ shit. Between Shitty's tub juice and the general proximity that people had between one another during the parties (i.e. none) Dex was convinced he was going to have a mini-break down.

 

He decided, maturely, that he was going to bring a red Gatorade with him and put it in a solo cup and literally not drink anything for the entirety of the night.  He resolved himself to a sober Haus party so that he wouldn't completely embarrass himself, and Nursey, by jumping the dude’s bones the second his rational mind was the least bit uninhibited.

 

_What do they say about the best laid plans?_

 

Dex wondered about it as he looked at the bottom of his solo cup.  That was two rounds of tub juice down and Nursey had gone to get them some cups of beer from the keg so as not to repeat the embarrassing and videotaped incidents of their very first Haus party during which all the tadpoles fell for Shitty's lie that the tub juice was 'like 80 percent juice and 20 percent alcohol'.  Dex watched as people started inching closer to one another--closing the space and acting on their drunken sexual tension.  He imagined something like that with Derek--leaning in, kissing his neck, whispering something that got him to laugh and pull Dex closer.

 

Yeah--that beer was going to be a bad idea.  But just as he turned to round the corner to the kitchen, Nursey swung around the other side and they collided into one another.

 

"Fuck!" Derek said at the same time Dex said "Shit!"

 

After Dex realized that his whole shirt was pretty munch drenched, he looked over and found that Nursey was in much the same boat.

 

"Shit, sorry man."

 

"No it was my bad.  Couldn't hear you coming over the music."  Dex looked down at himself again and tried to decide if he should strip out of the shirt and wear his hoody the rest of the night. He thought he might get overheated though.

 

"My dorm's close--you wanna just grab new t-shirts and come back?"

 

That was a better idea.  Give it to Nursey, the smart one.  He did need some fresh air anyway and him and Nursey were basically the same size. "Yeah bro, thanks."

 

They walked shoulder to shoulder, hands in their pockets like the nippy November air wasn't a bit too cold to bear without a jacket.  Nursey's dorm _was_ close, right at the edge of campus.  It sucked for classes and eating and getting to practice, but it was pretty sweet for the semi-regular Haus party.

 

While they walked, Derrek told him about what happened the weekend before.  They had come back late from an away game and everyone on the team had opted to have a low-key night.  Derek recounted dragging up the two flights of stairs and passing "literally 4 couples" ranging from making out to full on public displays of indecency.

 

"I had to fucking ask this dude, who was blowing this other dude, to like move over three inches so I could open the door to my floor.  He was all "my bad man" and I was all "Yeah, no worries." Derek was snickering and Dex laughed with him.  Leave it to Nurse to not be completely mortified by someone's mouth on someone else's dick in a situation where he was not participating. Yuck. Definitely where Dex's chill capacity ended.

 

They shuffled into Derek's room, politely passing his two artsy suite-mates who were watching some bizarre looking indie-movie in the common space.

 

With the door closed, Derek just fucking stripped down.  Exposing way too much gorgeous bronze flesh way to fast for Dex's brain to even shield itself a little bit.

 

"Nurse, what the fuck!"  Dex whipped his hand over his eyes like a three-year-old.

 

"Dude, you literally shower next to me in the locker rooms, are you kidding?"  Derek was laughing and by the sound of it and rummaging around his drawer.  Dex felt a soft (probably ridiculously expensive) t-shirt fling over his face.

 

"Yeah, but, it's different."  Dex mumbled.  He kept his eyes down as he pulled his own shirt from the back and over his head.  He kept his gaze averted as he dropped it to the floor and hoped that Derek was getting decent.

 

"Different how?"

 

Dex pulled on the nicest t-shirt he'd probably ever wear, and only let his drunk-brain take a few seconds to bask in its softness before answering. "I dunno, because there's like other people around."

 

When he chanced a look up, Nursey, that bastard, was still shirtless, his jeans magically slung lower than before on his hips, accentuating the gorgeous V of his cut ab muscles. Those nipples, fuck he wanted to suck on them, roll them between his fingers, hear if Nursey was as sensitive as other omegas there.

 

"Dex..." Dex looked up to Nursey's eyes, pupils blown out a little and lips parted. "Are you..."  Derek took a few careful steps toward him, inching that delicious skin closer. "attracted to me?"

 

Dex cringed, bit his lip and looked at the ground. He wouldn't exactly describe it as face palmed, but he basically hid his face in his hand and groaned. "Is it that obvious?"

 

Nursey released a surprised bark of laughter. "Uh no, like not at all.  Is it..."  Derek's voice sounded high. “Is it a new thing?"

 

Dex could feel his cheeks heat under his palm. "No."

 

He felt Derek pull at his hand. "Hey, look at me."  He pleaded softly.  Dex was so far from denying Nursey anything.  He let his hand get pulled off his face and mustered the courage to look Nursey in the eye. "Like, how long?"

 

Dex blinked slowly.  Thankfully drunk so not actively panicking but unhelpfully honest. "Pretty much the first day I met you."

 

"You didn't even like me when you first met me." Derek said disbelievingly.

 

"Yeah I did, I just..." Dex sighed suddenly so tired, "I just didn't want it to be weird."

 

"Because I'm an omega?"

 

"Because you're my d-man partner."  Dex hated himself for noticing that Derek was still holding his hand.  He half-expected Nursey's hands to be rough, calloused up because of hockey.  They were a bit, along the palm, but the tops were so soft.

 

"Dex--"

 

Dex cut Nursey off, already hearing the gentle tone of letting someone down easy.  He wanted to save some shred of dignity for himself. "It's not a big deal.  I mean, I know it's probably weird to have someone on the team have a crush on you but I feel like we can just forget this conversation ever happened?  You're like my d-man partner, and ridiculously hot, and like, way out of my league so I don't expect anything to happ---"

 

Derek cut him off with his mouth, slotted all hot and urgent against his.  Dex's arms were suddenly filled with Nursey, his scent, his body, his lips.  Nursey's two hands cupped his jaw and Dex's own traitorous hands gripped his hips, pulling him flush and keeping him there.  One of them groaned, and then Dex was tasting Nursey, licking into his mouth and trying desperately to pull him inside himself. It was needy and a little bit sloppy--but that didn't make it any less perfect.

 

 They were panting when they pulled apart, foreheads resting against one another.

 

“I’ve been wanting to that.” Nurse admitted. His breath skirted along Dex’s cheeks.

 

“Yeah? With me?”  Dex grinned goofily, couldn’t help it.

 

“Yes, you idiot, with you.”  Derek’s eyes went half-lidded and he licked his lips sensually.  His hands rubbed over Dex’s pecs and around his shoulders, locking wrist over wrist behind his neck. “Can’t wait to get you naked.” He murmured between sweet kisses down Dex’s neck.

 

"Won't this make things weird, on the team?" Dex wondered distractedly aloud.  He titled his head with a sigh.  Derek Nurse was giving him a hickey.  He was getting a hickey from Derek Nurse. 

 

"Why? people hook up on teams all the time."

 

 _Hook-up._  The terms was enough to throw ice water on the heat in his belly and groin.  Hook up.  Did he want to hook-up with Nursey? No doubt.  Did he think he could actually do hooking up--casually? Or just hook-up once and live a normal post-Nursey hook-up life? Defintely not.  He wanted Nursey too bad on too many levels to have casual, unconnected sex with him.  Going any further than where they were now could open the floodgates and ruin everything. There was no going back for Dex, not at all.

 

"Yeah... I guess."

 

Derek paused his exploration of Dex’s shoulder. "What? I thought you wanted..."

 

"No, I do, I really do, with you, its just...  I don't think I could hook-up and be friends and be teammates.  I'd be a lot, for me." Dex was an idiot.  He like, had a chance to hook up with someone like Derek Nurse and he was turning him down.  Instead of taking any scrap that was thrown at him.  But somehow his self-preservation was actually kicking-in.  Maybe it was because Dex knew, deep down, that Derek could destroy him, murder his heart and turn him out good.

 

"Oh." Derek took a step back, expression shuttered.

 

"Is that...Is that okay?"

 

"Of course Dex. I'm not gonna-- Yes, of course.”  Derek didn’t look at him though.  He turned around and grabbed a t-shirt from his top drawers.  He pulled it over his head. “You head back, alright? I think I’m gonna hang out with Pete and Dalila for a bit.”

 

“But, are you sure?” Dex winced at the sound of his voice—high and whiney like a little kid.

 

When Derek turned around his normal quirked smile was on but his eyes were a little dimmed. “Yeah bro, seriously.  If we’re not actually gonna hook-up then let’s not give people the wrong idea.  I’ll be right behind you.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Derek opened the door for him and Dex took the cue.  He felt like he should say something but he didn’t know what.  Nursey didn’t seem mad, but he didn’t seem chill either.  Dex thought maybe he should just get out of his hair and see how he felt the next day at practice. 

 

It hurt to actually walk-out.  He almost just said ‘fuck it’ and turned at the door to march back and suck on Nursey’s face some more.  But he didn’t.  It was for the best.  Derek Nurse would ruin him and maybe Dex would ruin their friendship in return.  He needed at least some of Derek Nurse in his life.  And he wasn’t willing to lose that to a quick romp in the sheets.  Because if Nursey ever started hooking up with other people, Dex knew himself.  His jealousy would burn bright and hot and maybe even burn all the bridges between them.  It was too much to expect from Nursey.  To think he would want something committed and real as a freshman, as a college athlete, as a perfect specimen that could have his pick of anyone at anytime.  Dex didn’t have delusions, he knew what he looked like.  Too red hair, too many freckles, and too pale skin.  Aside from his muscles from hockey, there really wasn’t anything remarkable about him at all.

 

It was for the best.  Really, it was.  But for some reason, the sinking feeling in his stomach wouldn’t go away.  

 

 


	2. Can't Hold Out Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So... Dex and Nurse have communication issues. MAJOR communication issues.

The full moon was a few weeks after the Haus incident. Dex shrugged out of plans with the team as usual, but this time, Nursey didn’t chirp him about it or convince him to change his mind. He ran with his freshman suitemates in their designated area. If he felt like there was someone missing when he slumped down on the edge of the sleeping pile, that was between him and the full moon.

 

He was just dozing off, curled up and comfortable when he picked up the smell of something wonderful.

 

Being shifted, his thoughts were a little more rudimentary. _Omega. Good. Mine_.

 

Out of the edge of the tree line, Dex spotted a chestnut brown wolf slinking toward him, moving slow with his belly low to the ground. The alphas in the pack behind him released warning growls (there were reasons you had to register which quadrant you were going to run in). But the wolf kept creeping forward, keeping his head down in a non-threatening position.

 

Dex was up and trotting toward him, ignoring the warning huffs of the make shift pack behind him.

 

 _Derek_.

 

He smelled a little different in wolf form, but still rich and spicy and undeniable. His light earthy scent was more potent as a wolf and Dex couldn’t resist the urge to nudge him with his nose, smell along his neck.

 

Nurse rolled over, exposing his belly, a whitish-brown. The alphas in the sleep pile quieted down, realizing that Nurse was an omega and known by another alpha.

 

Since the tension eased, Nursey yipped at him and got back on his feet. He stretched his front paws forward, tail high and wagging in the air.

 

_Play. Chase. Run._

 

Dex was helpless to oblige him. He barked his ascent and in a flash Nursey sprinted off, darting back through the woods he had just come from. They ran for a few miles, bee-lining in and out of marked off territories. Dex kept close to Nurse’s tail and never once slowed his pace to allow the other wolf to keep out-leaguing him. Nurse was a fast motherfucker in wolf form.

 

They both finally slowed near the campus brook, a designated neutral territory. Dex couldn’t resist starting a pining match, using his paws and jaw to try and keep Nurse pinned to the ground. They huffed and growled playfully for a few more minutes before petering off into light panting and drinking from the brook.

 

Dex laid out first, his reddish fur catching a bit of shine from the moonlight. Nursey trotted over to him, tongue hanging out and his snout split in a happy smile. He didn’t hesitate in plopping against Dex’s side and snuggling into him, nose nestling under Dex’s neck.

 

_Protect. Sleep. Mine._

 

Dex licked casually at Nursey’s ear and shifted his body so that Nursey was between him and the brook. Nurse yawned his approval and hunked down.

 

Dex woke in the morning to Nursey nibbling on his ear. He grouched out a disgruntled sound but the other wolf kept nudging him with his head. Finally he opened his eyes and Nursey gently licked at his snout, an intimate gesture that heated Dex’s alpha instincts.

 

_Leaving. Omega. Mine._

 

Dex growled, couldn’t help it in this form. He never liked when Nursey left the room. Dex had this inexplicably instinct to have eyes on Nursey every second of the day. But Nursey left nonetheless and Dex was the one stuck in a confused daze while he returned to his outdoor locker and threw on some sweats. He was still thinking about it when he went to the lower dining hall to grab some food, and then later when he tried to focus on his econ homework.

_What the fuck just happed?_

 

Dex opened his message thread with Nursey; not for the first time since the separated in the woods. His thumb hovered over the keyboard but he hesitated yet again. He didn’t know what he wanted to say, what there was to say. It felt like something they needed to talk about but it also felt like something so delicate that even thinking about it too hard would cause it to shatter and fade.

 

He decided not to say anything. Deep down he was weak and hoped, ridiculously, that it would happen again.

 

-O-

Nursey was normal-ish at practice, if not a little cagey. It dissipated quickly throughout the week until Dex thought maybe he had been moon-drunk and imagined the whole thing. But then some days, Nursey would look at him just so and Dex would stare back helplessly and then Nursey would quirk his lips in a private smile and Dex knew that it _did_ happen. He just didn’t know what to make of it.

 

They were mostly okay, pretty good actually if their hockey was any marker. But then they went on their next overnight roadie of the season.

 

As promised, Dex had not put up a fight to rooming with Nursey. But after the brutal game against Notre Dame that they just had, Dex looked at the beds like they were going to jump out and attack him.

 

Him and Nursey both needed to shower for real because Dex was already scared about being surrounded by Nursey’s intoxicating smell. More than that, Dex was pretty sure he didn’t have the mental game to keep his desire for Nursey from the forefront of his mind.

 

“Which bed do you want?”

 

“I’ll take the window.” Nursey sounded just as exhausted as Dex felt. “Mind if I shower first?”

 

“Of course.”

 

Nursey didn’t offer any pretty smirk or flirty comment. He simply trudged into the bathroom and shut the door.

 

Dex couldn’t remember being this tired and sore after a game. They had fought for every minute and went into overtime to still come out 0-0. Notre Dame was a stacked team, they played hard and clean and weren’t about to loose on home turf. It didn’t help that Samwell was a little beat up going into the game. The schedule had picked up in the last few weeks to accommodate the short Christmas Holiday. While not as long as other students, the team still had to account for the two week gap in the middle of their season.

 

Dex reviewed the game in his head—calling up the moments where he could have been better, when his teammates could have been better too. Then he went through all the times where he felt they were successful, what they did and how it felt. It wasn’t hard to imagine Nursey, grunting through his sore knee and sprained fingers. He remembered how they only let Notre Dame split the D on them 2 times in the entire game. They had been solid—passes all connecting and their communication nearly perfect.

 

The man himself emerged minutes later. Dex startled upright when he saw Nursey’s face. There were dark circles under his eyes and his mouth was pinched like he was in pain.

 

“Nurse, you alright? You’re knee hurting you?” Dex stood before he realized it and only just stopped himself from reaching out to touch.

 

“Yeah, I’ll be alright. Gonna sleep it off.” Nursey didn’t really look at him, just shrugged on a hoody and shuffled over to his bed. He laid down, burrowing deep into the covers without another word, his back turned to Dex and the bathroom.

 

Dex’s internal alpha instincts sounded off. The whole display was so unlike Nursey that it unsettled him. But if he needed to sleep than that was what Dex would let him do. He moved as quietly and carefully around the room as he could—shutting the bathroom door gently and showering and changing in there before emerging out again. He filled up two glasses of water, in case Nursey was coming down with something, and set one on the nightstand next to him. He twitched with the urge to slip into the bed behind Nursey, wrap him in his arms and make sure he felt better. With a power from beyond, he crashed into his own bed and was passed out in under 5 minutes.

 

At first he wasn’t sure what woke him up. He looked blearily at the hotel clock to read 1:00am—he had already been asleep for 3 hours. He rubbed his hand over his eyes and quickly stilled.

 

Nursey whimpered and shifted restlessly in the bed beside him. Most alarmingly though, his scent had…changed.

 

_Oh, fuck._

“Nursey?”

 

“I’m fine Dex, go back to bed.” Nursey’s voice was rusty with exhaustion.

 

Dex sat up, worried and completely unable to ignore that Nursey was in distress. “Nurse, you smell like you’re going into—“

 

“Yeah, I got that memo.” Nursey shifted again, curing in on himself even more.

 

Dex was up immediately. He flicked the light on in the bathroom and closed the door partially. When omegas were in this state, they could sometimes be light-sensitive. He quickly made it back to Nursey’s bed and sat gingerly on the edge.

 

“Come on sit up, you have to get some fluids in you.” Dex grabbed the glass, still full, from the nightstand.

 

“Dex, you should go back to bed.” Nursey protested. But he sat up as encouraged, head lolling heavily against the fabric headboard.

 

Dex bit his lip at the sight of his friend. Nurse’s hair was wet with sweat and his skin was clearly so overheated, it actually looked like he was blushing.

 

“I can’t.” Dex said. And then answering Nursey’s disgruntled scowl added, “You know why I can’t.” Dex would never be able to sleep knowing that Nursey was so uncomfortable.

 

“Ah. My traditionalist knight.” Nursey slowly gulped down the glass of water Dex offered him.

 

“Did you miss a pill or something?” Dex asked, working very hard to keep his tone neutral.

 

“Nah man, I have to be religious about that shit with hockey. I dunno, the same thing happened to me once in high school.” Nursey dragged a hand over his face, his eyes slightly unfocused. “I took a second dose of my suppressants after I got out of the shower, it should be another 4 hours before it kicks in.”

 

Dex nodded his understanding. “That happened to a girl I dated in high school.” Nursey would be especially susceptible to sporadic pre-heats. Surrounded by an alpha heavy sport, the pheromones were proven to elicit them even in people already taking regular supressents.

 

“Fucking sucks.” Nursey pulled the covers up to his chin.

 

“A bunch of the omegas in my pack would have monthly meetings at my house with the omegas that just presented, the pre-heats while on suppressants topic came up a lot. They never really knew why they would happen. Seemed random.”

 

“Yeah, it’s always a surprise.” Nursey’s mouth attempted to grin, “So you like, regularly crashed omega slumber parties?”

 

“No! They were around when I came home from practice and I was like literally starving so would raid the kitchen while they were talking.”

 

“Likely story.” Nursey chirped. “So, during your omega slumber parties, did you pick up any tricks I can use for pre-heat cramps?”

 

Nursey had been joking, trying to anyway, but Dex couldn’t help the blush that broke out along his neck and cheeks.

 

“Oh shit, this is gonna be good.” Nursey huffed out a breathy laugh. “Spill.”

 

Dex rubbed the back of his neck, “They all said skin-to-skin contact with an alpha helped them a lot.”

 

“Yeah, that’s true.” Although Nursey’s eyes were still half lidded, it seemed like he had tightened his focus on Dex’s face. “What else?”

 

“Getting off helped the most. I think the release of hormones, dopamine mainly, helps the system reset and halts the pre-heat process.” Dex looked down at his hands, shaking with the need to run his fingers through Nursey’s hair.

 

“Yeah.” Nursey sighed. “Aside from knocking yourself out with some serious sleeping pills, its about the only thing that can stop the symptoms before the suppressants kick in.” Nursey placed his glass back on the nightstand and pulled his legs to his chest.

 

Dex watched him—saw how every muscle was pulled taut with pain. After the game they just played, Dex was shocked that Nurse wasn’t going into heatstroke. He had to do something, he couldn’t watch Nursey suffer.

 

“I could…” Dex breathed in “I could, help you.”

 

Nursey’s eyebrow arched up, “Help me how?”

 

Dex folded his hands together, hoped they’d stay to himself until he was given permission, and looked Nursey in the eye, “I can help get you off. I’ve done it for omegas before in this situation, I know what to do.”

 

“Dex.” Nursey said sternly. “It’s not like a medical procedure. We’d be hooking up.”

 

“Yeah but…” Dex furrowed his brow. “You’re in pain.”

 

“I’m not gonna, like, use you because I’m uncomfortable. I wont—“ Nursey sucked in a sharp breath. It took him a moment to finish his thought. “I won’t die.”

 

“It’s not using me if I’m offering.” Dex argued, which he really shouldn’t have because the lines of consent were already a little too blurred for his comfort. But he wanted, _needed_ to help.

 

“Would you want to get me off if I wasn’t in pre-heat right now?” Nursey demanded, his voice more forceful than Dex had ever remembered it.

 

“Of course. You know I would.” Dex replied softly, a little hurt. Didn’t Nursey remember? They talked about this, after the Haus incident. Dex had admitted everything then.

 

“No, you said you didn’t want to hook-up because things would get weird on the team.”

 

“That was different.” Dex defended. “I can’t do a casual hook-up because I would want it to mean more. This would be like, a one time thing under emergency circumstances, or whatever.”

 

“What does that even mean?” Derek growled. “This—“ he lurched forward mid sentence, clutching his lower stomach. Dex rubbed his shoulder, thumb digging into his neck. It took awhile for him to pull it together, he sucked in measured breaths, the ones the trainer always made them do when they were playing with an injury. “Okay, fuck this, yes, William Poindexer please use your aforementioned skills to get me off so I can fucking sleep for the next 10 years.”

 

“You’re the only person capable of using the word aforementioned while in pre-heat.” Dex chirped but it was so full of relief it lost its sting.

 

“It’s like I’m an English major or something.”

 

Dex smiled and hoped it looked reassuring. He was already feeling better, having a task that would help an omega in distress. Not just any omega on top of that, but Nursey, Derek.

 

“I’m gonna get us skin-to-skin first.” He reached forward assertively and tugged at the lip of Nursey’s sweatshirt. Nursey went willingly, reaching his arms up so that Dex could pull the fabric off. Dex noticed that Nurse’s nipples were already hard and pebbled. How long had he been suffering while Dex slept?

 

Dex rid himself of his own shirt and wasted no time pulling down the waistband of Nursey’s sweats. He wasn’t wearing underwear. Dex sucked in a breath at the sight of Nursey’s full cock, smooth and perfect and achingly hard.

 

“Dex, wait, I—“ Nursey grabbed for him, but Dex already knew what he needed.

 

“I'm gonna take care of you, anything you need Derek, anything, just tell me.” Dex whispered reassuringly. He draped himself over Nursey’s body, letting him feel pinned and protected. Then he cupped Nursey’s jaw and almost winced at how hot his skin felt under his hands. Leaning in slowly, in case he wanted to change his mind about the whole thing, Dex brushed his lips against Nursey’s.

 

The high whine that greeted him was definitely an invitation to proceed. So Dex kissed him. He put all he had into it, all the longing and the hurt. He sucked at Nursey’s bottom lip, nipped at it too. He wanted Nursey to feel how badly he wanted to do this for him. How badly he would always want him.

 

Nursey groaned and wrapped his arms around Dex’s back. He was shivering, but his muscles weren’t as tensed in pain as they had been when Dex first woke up.

 

“I got you.” Dex repeated. “Gonna make you feel better, Derek.”

 

“Please, Dex, I can’t—“ Nursey choked off into a sob when Dex latched his mouth onto his neck. He bit the skin and sucked it deeply. The mark would help Nursey’s body recognize that he was with a compatible partner. Help slow the pre-heat symptoms so Derek could fully enjoy himself.

 

Dex continued making marks all over Nursey’s body. Over his shoulders, on the other side of his neck, just under his pecs. He kept Nursey’s nipples waiting.

 

Nursey arched his back impatiently, pushing his nipples against Dex’s face, silently begging him to pay them attention. Dex obliged whole-heartedly. He sucked one in deeply while he toyed with the other. Nursey’s scream caused Dex to groan, deep from his belly. It was better than he had imagined. Nursey’s pre-heat body was so sensitive to any stimulation. Dex kept working Nursey’s nipples over and over again, licking and sucking and biting and rolling them between his teeth and fingertips.

 

“Dex, dex” Nursey chanted, his hips shifting and pushing up uncontrollably.

 

“Ready, babe? need more?”

 

“Yes, please, come on.” Nursey begged breathlessly.

 

Dex licked a trail down the line of Nursey’s cut stomach. He could smell Nursey’s arousal, the scent of his juices pooling at his hole.

 

In a distant part of his brain, the one not so lust-soaked, he regretted not having more time to do this with Nursey. He wanted to bite along Nursey's gorgeous inner thighs, thick muscular hockey thighs that had Dex salivating and readjusting himself in his sweatpants.

 

Instead, he went right for what Nursey needed. Hooking his arms under Nursey's lower back he used (needed) both hands to spread Nursey's large ass cheeks.

 

"Dex, fuck, I need it."

 

Dex was helpless to deny him. He plunged forward, licking and slurping at Nursey's hole. Nursey keened and muttered out a string of mostly unintelligible words that just served to encourage Dex on. He lapped and sucked at Nursey's hot entrance, getting lost in the taste. Nursey's hand snaked down and gripped his hair and Dex sucked in a sharp breath at the flush of arousal that chared through his body. _Could he really come in his pants from eating Nursey out?_ It was a close thing.

 

"Sorry, Sorry, I won't" Nursey whimpered above him and released his hand.

 

Dex growled at the miscommunication and just grabbed Nursey's hand and placed it back on his head. He pulled his face out from between Nursey's cheeks and looked up. "Do it. Do whatever feels good, okay?"

 

It took a few long seconds for Nursey to answer, he just kept staring at Dex's face and mouth, which to be fair was likely a filthy mess. "Yes, okay, fuck you're so hot right now." He tightened his grip on Dex's hair and dragged his mouth back to his entrance.

 

It was perfect.

 

Dex kept working at Nursey's hole, was prepared to eat him out until his jaw ached but Nursey was gasping and shaking and repeating "in me, in me, please" and Dex wanted to give Nursey everything, every single thing he wanted. He pulled back just slightly and circled Nursey's rim with his middle finger. Nursey's hips pushed up eagerly and Dex took the wordless command. He sunk his middle finger in and massaged that sweet spot under the balls with his thumb at the same time.

 

"Oh, yes, fuck another Will, I need one more." Nursey moaned, neck arched back in a beautiful line.

 

Dex added his second finger, and that one went in just as smooth. "Fuck, Nurse, you're sucking me right in."

 

Derek sobbed and his rim clenched down around Dex's fingers. They both groaned in unison. Dex tried not to imagine what Nursey would feel like around him, gripping at his cock, his knot, hot wet juices getting _everywhere_.

 

Instead, Dex focused his energy on blowing Nursey's mind. He curled his fingers until he found Nursey's prostate and then manipulated it continuously while sucking at Nursey's balls. He wanted to get Nursey's cock in is mouth, but he was squirming and crying out and generally loosing it too much that Dex thought maybe Nurse would choke him if he tried. But anyway, Nurse tasted especially good around his balls where his scent took on a musky flavor that drove Dex absolutely crazy.

 

It wasn't long after that before Nursey's cock started dribbling a stream of precome, welling over the reddened tip of his cock. Well, Dex needed to taste it, so choking be damned.

 

"Nursey, let me suck it, please, I want to." Dex didn't know why, but he felt like he needed explicit permission. Maybe because Derek seemed like he would blow any second, or maybe because sucking someone's cock and getting it as deep into your throat as you could seemed like another level up from fingering them.

 

"Yes, fuck yes" Nursey gasped out.

 

Dex licked the tip clean first, and that alone had Nurse tensing with stimulation. Dex had a feeling it was going to be over way too soon and decided he was going to get his mouth full of as much of Nursey's cock as possible before that happened.

 

He only spent a few seconds suckling the head of Nursey's cock, tongue digging again and again in the slit before he sorta just swallowed Nursey down. He played with his prostate the whole time, tapping his fingers and sort of cupping Nursey's balls with the heel of his hand. He made it down to the base of Nursey's cock, lips brushing against the dark course hair, and back up and down again before Nursey shot off. Dex felt it hit the back of his throat, chocked a little, but loved every second.

 

He used his free hand to pump Nursey's cock, and licked up each drop of come, until Nursey was whimpering and shaking and begging for something Dex couldn't make out.

 

They both were breathing heavily. Dex felt like he just skated suicides for two hours. He hadn't come though. Hadn't reached down and jacked himself off like he wanted.

 

Nursey was tugging at his hair, pulling at his shoulder and Dex looked up, a little dazed, "Come 'ere."

 

Dex rose up on his knees and leaned toward Derek, who once able, grabbed the back of Dex's neck and pulled. They were kissing before Dex could ask if Nursey wanted him to rinse his mouth, tongues gracelessly rubbing against one another. They were both too tired for finesse, but it felt so good to kiss Nursey, to still have his fingers in him and feel the way his body was trying to work them over like a cock.

 

Derek pulled off with a sharp intake of breath and a violent shake. "Fucking aftershocks." Nursey dropped his head back to the pillow and traced his thumb over Dex's lower lip. "Can you put another in me? I just need a little more until the aftershocks are done."

 

Dex hid his full-body shiver with another kiss. Without looking, he lined up his ring finger and unsurprisingly that one slid in easily next to the other two. Derek moaned into Dex’s mouth and wrapped both arms around his neck, tighter still.

 

The next aftershock had Derek muffling his scream with Dex's shoulder.

 

"Shit Derek, it feels like your hole is trying to milk my fingers." Dex marveled, looking down across the tight planes of Nursey's body.

 

"Mmmm, 's so good Dex, you're so good." Dex almost laughed at Derek's fucked out expression, it looked so similar to his dopey-tired look that it made Dex want to nuzzle under his ear.

 

It felt too soon when Nurse finally dropped his legs, straightening them out along the bed. Dex pulled out his fingers gently and ignored the constriction of his chest when Nursey let out a small whimper.

 

"I'm gonna be right back, okay? I'm going to get us cleaned up."

 

"M'kay." Derek said sleepily. He eyes already drifting closed.

 

Dex hustled to grab the ice bucket on his way to the bathroom.   He looked at himself in the mirror while he held the bucket under the tap. For starters, Derek left a nice-sized bite mark on his shoulder. For another, his face was all flushed and his mouth swollen from kissing Nusey and eating him out. He was also still so fucking _hard_.

 

Once the bucket was filled, he grabbed a towel and a couple of washcloths and set them on the bathroom vanity. More than a little disgusted, he flipped the toilet seat up, took a hold of his aching dick and jacked himself off in rough, unforgiving strokes. Pulling up images from moments before, Dex muffled his groan with his fist and spilled his release into the toilet.

 

Dex couldn't help but think, as he flushed the toliet, that the rest of his resolve was going with it. There was no going back, not after what he did. There was no way, no fucking way, he could continue denying himself when it came to Derek. If Derek would still have him, as fuck buddies, friends with benefits, teammates that fuck on the side whatever--Dex would take it.

 

When he reemerged back into the room, Nurse was pretty much passed out. He jostled awake though when Dex passed a warm washcloth over his hole, between his thighs. He used the other one to wipe down behind Derek's neck, over his brow. He took the larger towel and tried to dry off the water and sweat.

 

"Gimme a sec and I can return the favor." Derek slurred, hand reaching out abortively to Dex's groin area.

 

"Nursey, you're half way dead." Dex teased. "Give me more credit than that, please."

 

"You're the best Dex." Nurse whispered and curled over in a clear attempt to sleep.

 

"Ah, Nurse no, come on, we're sleeping in my bed. There's like come and sweat and shit on this one." Dex pulled at Nusey's shoulders and grunted his way through basically dragging his very well toned and heavy as fuck body to the other bed. He rustled around Nurse’s bag to find a fresh pair of sweats, but (fucking Nursey) had apparently only packed one pair. So Dex went back to his own bag and pulled out his spare. With literally no help from the man himself, he pulled the pants over Nursey’s lower half, and positioned his body so he was only taking up 60% of the bed as opposed to 80% of it.

 

When he finally turned off the bathroom light and slid in beside Nursey under the sheets, Nursey sort of octopus-ed his appendages around Dex's body and sighed so fucking cutely that Dex pretty much died a little.

 

-O-

 

"Dex, wake up, Come on. Will, wake up."

 

Dex blinked awake, bleary and disoriented and was greeted with Nursey's stunning hazel-green eyes. He was on his back, Nursey stretched out on his side, the calloused part of his hand pressed against Dex's bare chest.

 

Those eyes turned soft and smiling, "Hey."

 

Dex scrubbed a hand over his face. "Hey, how you feeling?"

 

"A lot better." Derrek looked away, shy. "Thanks, for what you did, that was a bad one."

 

"Of course." Dex responded automatically. And then, to distract himself from the urge to drag Nursey under him and shove his tongue in his mouth again, asked "What time is it?"

 

"9:30, We've got 30 minutes to be dressed and outta here."

 

"Shit. Okay. I'll pack our shit, you shower first." Dex pushed himself up and breathed in and then instantly wished he hadn't. The room smelled like pre-heat and Nursey and Dex couldn't help getting a semi right where Nursey could see. "Sorry I--"

 

"Don't be sorry." Derek whispered. "Its...reassuring to know you're still attracted to me."

 

What the fuck? "What does that mean?" Dex scowled, "I've literally always been attracted to you."

 

"I just mean," Nursey rubbed his hands along his (well Dex's) sweats, "Its nice that you weren't just, you know, feeling obligated last night, because of your traditionalist values or something,"

 

Dex sighed, insanely frustrated, "Derek, I would never have offered to do that for Chowder or Bitty if they were in your position, okay?" He hoped that clarified things.

 

Annoyed, he got out of bed and started throwing stuff in his and Nursey's bags. He felt like they were missing something, but he wasn't sure how much clearer he could be about things. Like, what part of 'since the first day I met you' was confusing? And Nursey had never said that he wanted things to be more than a hook-up so that meant that he didn't want that, and that was fine, but that didn't magically change Dex's feelings. And what did Derek think that he went around willy nilly offering to suck people off? It didn’t make any sense.

 

"Dex, I didn't mean to offend you." Nursey said, but he didn't sound apologetic, he sounded disbelieving and defensive.

 

Dex kept his back to Nursey. He didn't want to get into a fight, not right before they got on the bus. He was already having anxiety about the team taking one look at him and _knowing_.   "It's fine, shower, I'll finish out here."

 

"Dex--"

 

"It's fine, Nurse, seriously."

 

"Okay." Derek mumbled and shuffled into the bathroom, closing the door softly, maturely.

 

Dex slumped on the bed and ran his fingers through his hair. _This_ was why being together and being friends and being teammates was a bad idea. Dex could barely keep himself together. On the one hand he wanted to yell and ask Derek where he got off and on the other hand, Dex was so hopelessly head over heels that he was reluctant to brush his teeth because he could still taste Derek on his lips.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello awesome readers!
> 
> I had hoped to get this out sooner but a friend's birthday dinner ran WAY longer than expected! 
> 
> First, the reason Derek thinks that Dex doesn't like a hand on his head while he's eating him out is because of their Alpha/Omega dynamics. Annoying designationists/ dominant pack society perceive an alpha going doing down on an omega as a "submissive" act, especially if the omega is holding the alpha's head down. Obviously, our boy Dex doesn't see it that way. 
> 
> Second, thank you for the reviews and kudos! They are making my Christmas week :)
> 
> Third, I am very sad to report that I do not think the next chapter will be done before I go on vacation. That means we're looking at a January 10 update! I'm SORRY!
> 
> Finally--all chapter titles are from REO Speedwagon's wonderful hit, "Can't Fight This Feeling". I don't own those phrases nor can I ethically say I came up with them! :)
> 
> All reviews and grammatical feedback welcome for this beta-less writer!


	3. No Reason For My Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dex's sister is a god-sent. We thank her dutifully. These boys start figuring it out...RIP angsty, angst, it's been real :)

With a few helpful sprays from the complimentary scent neutralizer in the bathroom, it didn't seem like the team noticed anything at breakfast. And then, Dex was saved from any awkwardness on the bus from Chowder begging for help with his Econ homework, which then also covered the plane ride seating as well. When they landed, collected their bags, and got on the bus that would take them home, Dex felt a little more ready to brave the friend part of his and Nursey's relationship.

 

Dex plopped into the seat next to Nurse who looked pretty surprised to see him there.

 

"We cool?" Dex asked.

 

Derek looked at him for longer than Dex was expecting. But finally said, "Yeah, of course." And then, before Dex could figure out what that was all about asked, "How exactly do traditional packs work? I've...never met anyone from one before."

 

Despite the shock of having Nursey take the conversation in that direction Dex answered, "Most people haven't." He sighed, it was probably only fair that Nursey get the best sense as possible of where Dex was coming from. His behavior to this point probably seemed ridiculously odd to Nursey. "What do you want to know?"

 

Nursey shifted in his seat, eyes alight with interest, "So, like, who are your pack leaders?"

 

"Um, the strongest omega and alpha pairing. My grandparents were the pack leaders and now my mom's cousins are. It's whoever gets the most pledges in equalist packs right?"

 

Nursey nodded, "Yeah, my moms are the heads of the pack now."

 

Dex knew that, had heard Nursey mention it when neither of his parents could make it up for parents weekend in the fall. Dex also knew that both Nursey's parents were betas, something that would rarely happen in designationist or traditionalist packs. For traditionalists, unlike designationists, omegas were the key part of the leadership pairing. Dex had heard of a Beta/ Omega pairing leading a traditionalist pack before, but again it was uncommon.

 

"So... how do runs work?" Nursey licked his lips and added, "If it gets too weird you don't have to answer."

 

Dex's lips quirked, "Its not weird, it's just stuff I haven't stopped to think about really." Dex shifted his body, turning almost fully to Nursey, and rested the side of his head against the seat. "The omega and alpha heads lead the pack run, but the omega gets to pick where the pack sleeps."

 

Nursey ran the tops of his fingers under his chin, digesting the information. Picking where a pack stopped and slept during a run was an oddly powerful position. Dex was aware that alphas typicaly held that role.

 

"So what about mating and shit?"

 

Dex took a deep breath and released it fully. He explained to Nursey that the most common dynamic pairing was beta/beta by sheer numbers alone. Alphas and omegas were typical and still kind of the ideal but more and more beta/ omega and alpha/ betas were seen and accepted. Alpha/alpha and omega/omega pairings were still taboo and Dex didn't really know of any in traditionalist packs.

 

Nursey wanted to know so Dex explained that while all alphas are taught to take care of all omegas there are, obviously, distinctions for actual courting, claimed, mated, and bonded couples. For example, they slept next to one another on runs, they weren't ever really too far apart from one another, they wore each others clothing or something with their partner’s scent on it, they got a little jealous and territorial if another alpha got too nice and helpful around their omega, they liked to mark and get marked in return.

 

Dex also explained that omegas were not the default caretaker of pack pups. Like equalist packs, the responsibility fell on the couple's work schedule and whoever had the most flexibility. In traditionalist packs, betas were actually the preferred babysitters because omegas and alphas were deemed to valuable to pack life.

 

Nursey was especially interested in omega rights, "So you're saying omegas can have any job in the pack or outside of it?"

 

"Yeah, of course. But parents tend to like it when their omega children are in medicine."

 

"Why?" Dex wanted to trace the really endearing wrinkles that formed on Nursey's forehead when he was both confused and interested in something at the same time.

 

"I'm not really sure, they kinda just have a reputation as being good at it. Maybe because back in the day omegas were shamans, because of the whole fertility, pheromone thing."

 

Nursey's eyebrows were almost touching his hairline, "Traditionalists are so..."

 

"Weird?" Dex offered.

 

"Unique." Nursey clarified. "It's like, just when I think 'oh this is just designationist in reverse', there's like another layer. Omegas being doctors? That's still something more progressive designationist packs have a problem with."

 

"But why can't omegas be doctors? That literally doesn't make any sense. Like they aren't less smart than any other designation." Dex grouched.

 

"That, William Poindexter, is a very equalist thing to say." The way Nursey's eyes crinkled into a smile made Dex want to kiss the edges and feel the lines on his lips. "But, to answer your question, it's just prejudice. People think omegas are more mentally fragile than other designations or, like with shit like hockey, not as strong biologically as alphas or even betas." Nursey shrugged. _Shrugged_. Like the shit he was saying was kinda... par for the course and not the saddest, sickest shit Dex had ever heard.

 

Will looked down at his own hands, the memory of his mom on that winter day out on the pond coming to mind. "It's not true though." Nursey touched his hand and Dex was prompted to look up. Something in Nursey's expression, maybe the concern or the openness had him saying, "My mom is an omega."

 

Dex found that once he started the words kinda spilled out, "When I was 15 she took my two friends and I out to the pond near our house. The town said that it was frozen enough for us to skate on." Dex closed his eyes, the image of the ice fracturing under his skates flashing before him. "We brought out a net, my friend was a goalie, and we were practicing our shots. The ice cracked underneath my friend first, he was out in the middle and then we all went under. I just remember thinking that one of us was gonna die because there was no one around except my mom. And I felt guilty because I didn't think it was gonna be me."

 

"I tried to swim, but with my skates and the ice, I don't really remember that part. The next thing I knew my mom was dragging me out of the water and onto the bank next to my friend and yelling at us to take our clothes off and shift. And then she went back in the water for Jimmy--he was the goalie."

 

"Oh my god, Dex..."

 

Dex looked back at Nursey, swallowed the lump in his throat and finished, "She got us all out before the EMTs and Firefighters got there. Jimmy had to be rushed to the hospital because he was under too long, with his goalie pads and shit, but he was fine. The police and EMTs kept saying it should have been impossible, because the water was freezing and we weighed way more than her and there were three of us. She had a dislocated shoulder and hypothermia but she had gotton us all out."

 

"That's amazing." Nursey locked his fingers with Dex's and squeezed. Dex squeezed back.

 

"You always hear about omegas doing crazy shit like that, lifting cars for their pups or saving people from a fire. But people keep being surprised. Like, oh my god and they're an omega, incredible. But, I guess I just don't get how much more evidence people need--aside from the actual medical research which has been around for forever."

 

"People are dumb, Dex." Nursey replied solemnly.

 

"Wow, so articulate, come on, I thought you were an English major." Dex chirped weakly.

 

Nursey looked back at him, expression soft and fond, "Asshole." And then, he rubbed his thumb over the top of Dex's hand and said, "I'd like to meet your mom one day."

 

"You can," Dex said immediately. Derek could have anything he wanted from Dex now, anything at all. "She's picking me up for break."

 

"Sweet."

 

-o-

 

Letting Derek Nursey meet his mother was a bad idea.

 

The woman had a 6th sense about everything, most especially her children. As soon as Nursey said, all charming and extra exuberant, “Its a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Poindexter", Dex knew that she knew.

 

On top of that, Dex hadn't accounted for Nursey's ability for small talk. Like, Dex had already packed the car and threw out everything in his fridge, and locked all their doors and the suite door _and_ went to the bathroom and they were still talking.

 

"...anyway, I was as shocked as you to read that article." His mom had somehow inched closer to Derek and they looked more like conspirators than strangers meeting for the first time.

 

"Read what?" Dex asked.

 

"Nothing darling, are you all set?" She smiled, _the_ smile, the _I-know-something-you-don't-want-me-to-know_ smile. Fuck.

 

"Yeah, everything's good. Nurse, you need a ride to the train station or something?" Dex shoved his hands into his pockets because he was feeling too jittery to trust them. They hadn't talked about that night after the Notre Dame game. There was practice, and Haus events and finals, _fucking finals_. They barely had time to say more than “I got you a coffee” (or in Dex’s case ‘I got you a latte’), let alone a long conversation about how Dex knew what Nursey’s hole tasted like and wanted that to mean something. Ignoring it mostly worked, but now it felt a bit like a healing bruise, suddenly surprising you when you had tried to forget it was there but you accidently bumped it against something.

 

"Nah, Rans and Holster are actually driving down to D.C. for the holiday so they're gonna drop me off in New York."

 

"Oh, Sweet." Dex tried his hardest not to be jealous of them.

 

"See you in a couple weeks bro." Nursey pulled him into a hug. A bro hug. Not like some of the hugs they had shared over the last month. "Great meeting you Mrs. Poindexter. I'm definitely gonna check out those recommendations."

 

Nursey walked off and Dex and his mother got in the car. Dex was driving back, since his mom had driven the whole way to Samwell by herself (despite her protests that he had just finished finals and needed to sleep).

 

They were only 20 miles into their journey before she said, “Nursey’s a nice boy.”

 

“I know.” Dex turned on his blinker to get in the fast line—hoping beyond hope that their house in Maine would magically appear in the next 5 miles.

 

“And very handsome.”

 

Dex grit his teeth. “I know.”

 

“And pretty much head over heels for you.”

 

Dex sucked in a breath and stopped himself from hitting the break reflexively, “What?! No he’s not. What the hel—heck mom.”

 

“I’m just telling you what I saw.” His mom responded, all knowing and magnanimous, like the universe would personally tell her it’s secrets if she politely asked and explained that she needed the information to torture her second born child.

 

“You talked to him for 5 seconds.”

 

“8 minutes, actually, and it was more than enough time.” He could _hear_ her smiling. “But, you should know he doesn’t know you feel the same way.”

 

Now Dex knew that was wrong, “He does know, mom. We don’t—“ Dex sighed and hated himself for the sound because it sounded sad and dejected even to him. “We don’t want the same things.”

 

“Oh.” Dex glanced over and saw his mom’s recalculating expression. “That’s not the read I got, but if you’ve explicitly talked about it and you said that you would like to formally court him and maybe claim him before the summer and he declined then, what do I know?”

 

 _I love my mom. I love my mom. I love my mom._ Dex fervently reminded himself.

“I think I’ve been pretty clear, mom. Some of us don’t like to get our feelings stomped on for shits and giggles.” Dex’s anger got the better of him. It came out more bitter and insecure than he meant it but not more bitter and insecure than he was feeling. His mom got him like this. Transparent as fuck.

 

“There’s nothing wrong with being shameless when it comes to these things. But I’m dropping it, won’t hear anything from me for the rest of the holiday. How were finals?”

 

They talked about school and the team generally and the season. Dex asked about the family and the pack and his mom went into an extensive recounting of what everyone had been up to. It felt good, to drop the thing with Nursey, but the nugget was still there, lodged in his chest. Dex wondered how long it would take for it to go away. It seemed like it had been growing and forming since the moment he met Derek but never dissolved when things didn’t turn out the way he wanted between them.

 

“Also, honey, Bradley and Jemma are no longer together.” His mom advised.

 

“Seriously? What happened?”

 

“Your sister hasn’t explained and doesn’t seem interested in explaining.” His mom’s lips were pinched and Dex knew that meant that she had her theories but had promised Jemma, his older sister, not to pry. Dex made a note to corner her sometime during the break between the shifts he was picking up at the restaurant and the general holiday crazinees, to get the deets. Maybe she could give him some advice in return, alpha to alpha.

 

-O-

 

The few days before Christmas, Dex was busy running errands for his mom, catching up with his siblings and friends, and doing some shifts at the restaurant he worked at sometimes over the summer. He barely noticed that half his break was almost over and that he had only stalked Nursey’s instagram once a day as opposed to every few hours.

 

Christmas came and it was wonderful. It made his heart big and full to be surrounded by his family, around alphas that knew how to behave properly and happy omegas and their gorgeous little pups.

 

The Poindexter siblings also got their bonding time. Jemma had been the first one out of the house, then Dex, and next year Bobby would leave followed by Aubrey. They weren’t used to _not_ being on top of each other all the time. To make matters more difficult, Jemma and Dex were alphas and Bobby and Rosie omegas, which meant that he and Jemma were long over-due in spoiling and generally smothering their younger siblings.

 

The day after Christmas, after Dex got back from the restaurant, he was able to get some alone time with his older sister.

 

“Keep me company while I work on the snow blower?” Dex tried to mimic the look Bobby and Rosie did when they really wanted something but knew there was a perfectly good reason for Dex to say no.

 

Jemma snorted, “Yeah, okay, lemme get my jacket. And for the record, don’t ever try that look again.”

 

After Dex got settled into tinkering with their old snow blower and him and Jemma exchanged long rants about the weirdness of the world outside of traditionalist packs, Dex ventured into the Bradley thing.

 

“So, Brad is not…” Dex felt all clunky but he never needed finesse with Jemma.

 

“I wish I could say long distance killed us, but we were having problems before that, you know we were.”

 

Dex nodded, eyes focused on the disemboweled engine in front of him. Brad was a football player, beta, and kinda insecure about it. He played an alpha-heavy sport and Dex always got the weird vibe that he was low-key competitive with Jemma. Which, joke was on him—Jemma was the sickest female left winger in the NCAA, she was no doubt going to the Olympics next year, and literally had no time for a big-fish-little-pond football wide receiver like Brad.

 

“Are you thinking break or done for good?”

 

“I’m done. For good. I dunno about him. He wants to hang out before New Years to—“ She raised her hands to make sarcastic air quotes, “clear the air”. She scoffed, angry and bitter-like. “He basically wants my permission to fuck other people while we’re both in town, which whatever, I don’t care, I really don’t but like, sometimes you’re doing something or having conversations and you think, how did I never see this before?” She kicked the soot on the garage floor. “I feel like I wasted so much time with his bullshit.”

 

Dex looked up and saw the way his sister’s face was all screwed up like it got when a ref made a really, really bad call in a series of bad calls and she was totally done with giving him the benefit of the doubt and was ready to quit playing fair and fucking throw down.

 

Dex licked his lips and tried his hand at redirecting the energy, “Look Jem, you know I never liked him, I’m not crying any tears and you won’t hear shit from mom and dad either. He’s an insecure prick and yes, maybe you were with him for too long. But sometimes shit just has to happen, so that you don’t ever fucking do it again. Like, remember that time I got my first concussion in Bantam when I was coming off the puck and didn’t have my head up and didn’t even see the check coming?”

 

Jemma nodded, lips quirked in an almost-there amused grin.

 

“Well, I always keep my head up when I come off the puck like that. Like, its instinctual because I never want to go down like that again. And maybe this thing with Brad is like that. You’ll be better next time, I know you will.”

 

Jemma’s bottom lip quivered and she sucked in air. “Yeah, I will.” And then, because Poindexter woman were hard as nails and that display of emotion alone was basically sobbing for Jemma, changed the subject, “So, what’s this about a D-man, omega mega-crush you have?”

 

Dex groaned and leaned his forehead against the side of the snow blower. “Jemma, I’m so fucked. Like—“

 

“Show me a picture before you get into it.” Jemma demanded.

 

Dex fished out his phone from his jean pocket and pulled up Nursey’s facebook page. He handed it over easily, not cagey or defensive like he would with someone else. Jemma got to see everything, they were kinda a team like that. She kicked people’s asses when they made fun of his hair in elementary school (even though she did that herself constantly) and he kicked people’s asses when they tried to be assholes about her scrimmaging with the boys over the summer.

 

“Okay,” Jemma started. “Don’t take this the wrong way but, he’s hot and in a way out of your league and my league and maybe even Jacob Prowley’s league kinda way.”

 

“I know, Jemma, thank you, jerk. Jacob Prowley, really?” Dex pouted at his wrench, and wished it were a magic wand that would make everything better and mainly shut up his sister.

 

Jemma shrugged, finger still swiping through Nursey’s photos, “What? He’s literally a model now in L.A. so that’s saying something. What I mean to say is, I don’t blame you for being this torn up for the sheer fact of this dude’s hotness alone. Now his money… is a whole other league.” She cackled when he threw a garage rag at her.

 

After they bickered a little bit about whether Nursey was out of Jacon Prowley’s semi-famous model league or not (which obviously Dex felt strongly he was), and Jemma stopped wiping away the tears she had shed in laughter, Jemma made him get into it. Like _into_ it.

 

Dex recounted everything, every itty bitty detail. Sometimes, he thought he was giving too much detail but Jemma would stop him and say something like, “Did you actually say that?” And he would say no that he was paraphrasing and she would say, “But what did you _actually_ say?” and he would try hard to remember and tell her.

 

When it was all done, and she had asked all these questions like, “Okay, but what do you think he meant by that?” and “Are you sure that’s how he took it?”, Dex felt like he had bag skated for days.

 

“Well.” Jemma surmised. “1. Mad points for not only kissing this dude but eating him out and blowing him.”

 

“Jemma!”

 

“I’m serious. I did not think you had that much game, especially after being a douchebag when you first met him.”

 

“I was horrible.” Dex whined into his hands.

 

“Yes, but that brings me to 2. which is that I think you need to re-open the ‘I want to claim you, mate you, have lots of sex, and eventually pups with you conversation’.”

 

“Are you kidding? _That’s_ what you got from this? He literally thought I offered to blow him because of my traditionalist honor or some shit. He doesn’t think of me that way.”

 

“Okay, Will. Look at me.” Dex met his sister’s eyes and was shocked to find them final-period-serious. “When you get back from break you need to say these three sentences, in this order, the first minute you get alone with your boy, are you listening?”

 

Dex nodded obediently.

 

“I like you Derek. I don’t just want to hook up with you, I want to date you. And if you don’t want that too, I still want to be your friend.” Jemma kept her eyes unblinkingly focused. “Repeat them.”

 

Dex breathed in, “I like you Derek. I don’t just wanna hook up with you, I wanna date you. And if you don’t want that too, that’s cool, I still want to be your friend.” Dex added “Please.” At the end, because he felt like he had no right to make requests of Nursey.

 

Jemma nodded sagely, like a jedi-sister would, “Good. Now shake on it.”

 

“No way. I don’t know if that’s actually a thing I want to say yet.” Dex protested.

 

They argued for another few minutes, Jemma dragged up old _old_ shit from way back as proof of how she has always been right about everything. Dex threw Brad in her face as evidence to the contrary and she growled and shifted and then they were fighting for real out in the snow before Dex realized it.

 

When their mom finally came out and shamed them inside to shift and get clothes back on, Dex felt better. Lighter, than he had in weeks.

 

“Okay.” He said to her when they both found their way back to the kitchen for their mom’s ‘you know better’ talk.

 

“Trust me.” Jemma reassured him and then proceeded to blame Dex for the whole ordeal and they both turned their mom into judge and jury while they plead for the lowest possible sentence. Which ended up being that they both had to DD their friends and siblings around for New Year’s.

 

It was low, real low, but not as terrible as it could have been. And Dex was mature enough now to hug his sister goodnight before bed and hang on for a few extra seconds and even say, “I love you.”

 

“I love you too you stupid fucking ginger.”

 

“Hey! No swearing in this house!” Their mother called from down the hall. They both erupted into laughter and got into their way-to-small teenage-sized alpha beds.

 

 

-O-

 

“How was home?” Derek asked.

 

Dex spun around to find Nursey leaning against his doorway, backpack on and beanie fitting oh so cooly on his head.

 

Dex looked forlornly at his roommate’s bed, empty, because he still got another week of vacation. This meant he was officially alone with Derek…

 

“Great. I... didn’t realize how homesick I was.” Dex answered honestly as kind of a way to warm up to other really honest things he was going to say. Derek nodded and shuffled over to Dex’s bed. He lean/ sat on it and Dex tried not to let himself get all worked up about how it would faintly smell like him for the rest of the day.

 

“Yeah, I feel you on that. I was having a super deep conversation with my uncle about sexism in college sports at Quanzmaskah dinner when I realized its not like, a given that I can do that with people here.”

 

Dex frowned. Nursey should feel like he could say whatever he wanted to say when it came to stuff like that. Had people been giving him a hard time? Making him feel like he had to be quiet? “You know you can say whatever you want to me, right? I mean, not like, I just mean, you can be yourself with me. It’s…safe.” Dex felt his cheeks heat and he looked back to his dresser where he was re-folding his laundry from home and putting it away.

 

“Yeah.” Derek answered softly behind him. “I know that Dex.”

 

“Okay good.” Dex reached back to his luggage and made the mistake of looking at Nursey’s face. He was smiling fondly, eyes soft but a little sad. And suddenly the words, “I wanted to tell you something, well make something clear, I guess.” Literally fell out his mouth.

 

“Yeah? What’s up?” Nursey kicked off his shoes and pulled his feet up on the bed to sit cross-legged.

 

Dex breathed in and started—“So, back in November, after the Haus—“

 

“Hey guys! Bitty is making pie and telling everyone to come over for Mario Kart, wanna walk over with me?!” Chowder bounced in Dex’s doorway. Dex, for the first time in his _life_ , wanted to be really, really rude to an omega.

 

“Uh…” Nursey looked over to Dex, waiting for his lead.

 

“Yeah, sure, lemme get my jacket on.” Dex hoped he didn’t imagine the way Nursey’s shoulders slumped in response to his answer.

 

They all walked over together, and Chowder chatted the whole way. Dex figured he could say something like, “We’ll finish later” at some point but when they actually entered the Haus it was worse. Dex had to (wanted to) hear about everyone’s break, laugh at stupid/funny New Year’s stories, and generally commiserate over the fact that everyone got more time at home and they had to practice like maniacs to work off the home-cooking they all just had.

 

Mario Kart went late and Call of Duty went later.

 

Dex ended up trudging back with Chowder who also lived in North Hall and they walked Nursey back _together_ to his dorm.

 

When Dex got to his room, he opened a text message to Nursey: _Wanna walk over to brunch together tomorrow?_

_Yeah, def, be at your room around 9?_

_Perf._

The next morning was also a bust. Nursey showed up with Ransom and Holster on his heels. They had run into him on their way to brunch and offered/slash invited themselves to walk with Nursey to pick Dex up. They stopped for Chowder too and, as a gaggle, walked to the only dining hall open. Nursey gave Dex an apologetic look and Dex held onto it, pulled it inside himself to keep his resolve going.

 

After practice, everyone made plans to meet up for dinner at the Haus and Bitty cornered Derek into chatting about something that Dex didn’t think he could crash or cockblock or whatever.

 

Dex sighed while he changed for dinner. He sort of just made it to dinner and through it. He felt those three sentences burning at his throat scraping their way out of his insides. It felt like being chosen last to present in class and only half-hearing everyone else’s presentation because you were too focused on not throwing up with nerves and you kept reviewing you're lines o ver and over in your head.

 

Shitty walked Derek home after dinner because he was going to Lardo’s dorm.

 

Dex moped his way back to North Hall with Chowder yammering unknowingly beside him.

 

He was just about to put his retainer in when he heard the knock at his suite door.

 

He threw his hoody over his bare chest and was just tugging it over his head when he opened the door.

 

Fuck.

 

He wished he had taken one look in the mirror before he did. He could feel his hair sticking up every which way.

 

Beautiful, perfectly sculpted and manicured Nursey stared back. Sleepy looking but hopeful and drop dead gorgeous in just sweats, a beany and a hoody-like shirt with no hood.

 

“I thought we could finish that conversation.” Derek smiled nervously. Dex realized suddenly, it was one of the first time Derek looked anxious about a social interaction. Hockey got all of them sometimes, that game against Airforce for example. But Derek was always relaxed and easy around people, even dicks (like Dex had been in the beginning).

 

“Yeah, come in.” Dex stepped back from the door and only took one second to pray to whatever gods were listening before closing the door and facing his fate.

 

Nursey slumped on the communal couch. One of his suitemates was another athlete and on campus, but he was staying with his girlfriend who was also an athlete and who had her suite to herself. They were alone.

 

“You mentioned wanting to tell me something?” Nursey, brave Nursey started.

 

Dex breathed in, out, and in again. He tried to channel Jemma in their garage in Maine, all fired up and sure. He pushed out all the insecure reasons that begged him to make some shit up and keep his sad feelings to himself.

 

“So, um, back in November when we uh… kissed.” Dex flickered his eyes between his hands and Nursey’s face, monitoring his expression. Nursey remained attentive, but not alarmed or awkward looking. “I wanted to make sure you knew what I meant by what I said.” Ugh…this was so hard.

 

“Okay.” Nursey blinked at him, but didn’t look like a guy who knew someone was about to profess their crush and who really really hoped they wouldn’t. He just kinda looked interested and confused at the same time—those crinkles on his forehead still so damn cute.

 

“Well, what I meant was, that I like you. I _really_ like you. And, I don’t just wanna hook up with you, I wanna date you.” Dex sorta rushed through the rest before Derek could formulate any expression or response. “And if you don’t want that too, which I feel like you don’t, that’s cool, seriously, it is. But if you don’t, I still want to be your friend and not have anything be weird and I promise not to make things weird, seriously.”

 

Dex gulped, eyes focused on where Nursey’s leg was a few inches from his own and waited.

 

“So, to be perfectly clear,” Nursey began “You want to go out, because you like me. And after that party in November you got all freaked out because you thought I didn’t want that?”

 

“Well, yeah.” Dex found some brave thread from somewhere and looked Nursey in the eye. “You said you wanted to hook up and it didn’t seem like… I just know that we’re both freshman, and college athletes, and you could literally date anyone on the planet including Jacob Prowley so…”

 

“Dex, Dex, First, Jacob Prowley? Seriously? I did not know you had that reference in you, bro.”

 

“He’s from my hometown.”

 

Nursey cocked his head, surprised, “Okay we’ll talk about that later.” He continued, “Second, I never said that I didn’t want to go out, I just figured..” Nursey sighed and then sorta nervous laughed. “Honestly, I didn’t want to scare you off and figured we’d do the normal college hook-up to relationship thing, if you had wanted.”

 

Dex stared back at Nursey. He wondered if he was dreaming, if he had entered an alternate reality where alphas like him had a chance with omegas like Nursey.

 

“Dex, say something.” Nursey urged.

 

“I just... I can’t...” Dex tried to process it all faster. But getting everything you wanted, everything you had suffered over for the past 5 months could make someone literally go crazy. “Are you for real? Like, I can court you?” Dex asked disbelieving.

 

“Court me?” Nursey’s expression turned confused again and Dex’s stomach dropped. “What does that mean exactly?”

 

“Um…” Dex fiddled with the hem of his hoody. “Like we go places, and I make you things, and kinda, show you how much I like you and if you like that then you let me claim you.”

 

“Do we get to kiss and do other sexual things?” Nursey asked seriously, so seriously that Dex did laugh.

 

“Fuck, I hope so. Unless you…”

 

“Uh, I definitely want that as part of this courting process. But like, wait, stop cheesing so hard I’m not done!” Nursey threw a pillow at him and Dex straigthed his face as best he could. He could still feel his eyes crinkle though. “But like, you should know that I’m sort of a done deal, so if you want we can skip to claiming.”

 

Dex shook his head before Nursey finished. “If it’s not too werid for you, I kinda… It’s…” Dex tried to quickly reason in his head the pros and cons about being so honest this early in their.. relationship?! But then he realized that Nurse was going to see everything soon enough and decided to just come out with it all. “I really like that part, is all. It’s like the fun part for traditionalist alphas. I mean, it’s all the fun part but the excuse to pamper and—“

 

Dex got cut off my Nursey’s beautiful and insistent mouth. He groaned like someone punched him because Nursey straddled his lap and got all up in his arms and basically morphed into Dex’s reoccurring wet dream. They sucked face, sloppy and frantic and so good for a few minutes before breaking away panting.

 

“Yeah, that works for me.” Nursey said, breath mingling with Dex’s.

 

“Awesome.”

 

They made out some more, a little more slowly. Nursey’s skill set showed, his kissing was phenomenal and made both their erections very apparent in a matter of minutes. Dex couldn’t stop running his hands up Nursey’s sides, down his back, around his hips. Dex thought Nursey liked it, the way he leaned moaned and writhed in Dex’s lap.

 

The frotting turned a little more meaningful and Dex knew he had to put a stop to it. “Nurse, hold up.”

 

“What?” Nursey panted, pupils wide and scent deep and rich and arousing as fuck.

 

“Can we wait? Just a little. I want to, to do it right.”

 

“Oh my god William Poindexter you are literally going to kill me. Please don’t tell me traditionalists are sexually repressed, please.”

 

“No! We’re not. But like, the first time, since we’re doing this for real, should be… not this.” Dex defended and hoped he wasn’t asking for too much. Was he taunting the universe, being ungrateful? Would it take Nursey back?

But Nursey’s scent just softened and he smiled sweetly, “Okay. But I want to get laid _before_ our next game, got it?”

 

Dex’s dick twitched. Right where Nursey could feel it. Dex wanted to melt into the couch and never come out. Nursey had gotton all bossy and demanding and Dex’s dick twitched like the traitor it was.

 

Nursey smirked and rolled his hips, “You like me telling you what I want and how I want it?”

 

Dex thunked his head against the back of the couch and spewed some traditionalist-as fuck dirty talk that had no right to be so unfiltered, “Fuck yeah, I wanna know how to please you, make it good for you, give it to you exactly how you like it.”

 

“Holy shit.” Nursey shivered and his eyes fluttered closed. “Okay, okay. I’m going to go. I’m going to get up, you’re going to stay on this couch because if you get up I might make you take me to bed, okay?”

 

Dex nodded, a little miffed that Nursey would be walking back alone, but understanding that they both were too much of a mess to do anything about that.

 

“And then tomorrow, we can start courting and talk about courting rules and we can see how long it takes before I get you in my bed.”

 

“Good. Okay, yes.” Dex was still a bit glazed over by the whole ‘Nursey wants to date me’ thing to even contribute valuable input.

 

Nursey’s goodbye kiss turned wet and needy and Dex was the one to push at his shoulders and beg him to give him at least three days of courting before they pushed it past first base.

 

Nursey left, promised to text when he arrived, and Dex waited until he received the text to jerk off in the bathroom. It didn’t take long.

 

He texted Jemma (who was probably sleeping but must have magically sensed that the text was coming because texted back immediately). She demanded the deets in the morning and then said ‘proud of you.’ with the emoji with the warmed cheeks and happy smile.

 

Dex felt like that emoji when he got into bed, feeling his eyes hurt and cheeks ache from the happiness that was everywhere, warm and full and almost too big to really think about. He was so giddy, like when he was younger and it was Christmas morning. He almost wanted to stay up and plan out his courting properly. Google things and figure out what he needed to buy. If funds were an issue, which he didn’t think they would be since he made good tips at the restaurant, Jemma would spot him for sure. But he pushed that aside. He needed to sleep, be straight for practice, and then he could plan.

 

His phone buzzed.

 

_I booked us a hotel room for Friday night since Saturday is a home game. You’ve got 4 days of goody two shoes courting before all out brawl out courting begins._

 

A part of Dex probably would have bristled at Nursey spending that kind of cash on him but it was decidedly over-ruled and crushed down by the part of him that was head over heel for the guy and who also recognized that Nursey had given him an extra day and was amped because Nursey had just made concrete plans for the end of the week. That part rejoiced in the fact that Dex likely wouldn’t wake up and find Nursey taking it all back like a fickle laughing god.

 

_I’ll make it worth it, I promise._

_It’s already worth-it but okay, I’m looking forward to it ;)_

Dex wondered, as he fell asleep, if happiness could kill him. It felt like maybe it could, like maybe it did. Maybe it killed a little part of him, maybe the insecure part or the anxious part and just left more room for the other parts to dance around and be free and fill him up with good things.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello awesome readers!
> 
> I was able to get this edited before flying out! I'll be out of the country until January 4 which means the final chapter should be posted in and around January 15.
> 
> If you have any questions about Designationists, Equalists, or Traditionalists please let me know. I'm trying my best to weave in the information in a non- "hey this is the context" type of way! I can put the answers in my notes section or work to change some text.
> 
> You all rock! Hope you had a great holiday! 
> 
> Little plug: If you're on break and looking for something EXCELLENT to read, please do yourself a favor and look up the Superstition series on this site (I bookmarked the first installment for your ease). Seriously, it's AMAZING and the author just updated. They are original characters + hockey + slash---seriously, do it.


	4. Throw Away the Oars, Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ah, new love....so freaking cute!

Dex woke up before his alarm the next day. Instead of laying awake and staring at the ceiling, he decided to get a little jump start on his courtship plans. He made a stop at the campus store, which was blessedly open, and although early, headed to the rink.

 

He got there before Nursey and was able to leave the little bottle of contact solution on the shelf above his gear.

 

"Dex! Spill! You look like you just got laid." Holster joked from across the locker room. He was taping up the two fingers he had jammed in last practice. He also appeared very pleased with himself for noticing Dex’s ploy, eyes seemingly laser focused on the bottle of contact solution Dex thought he covertly snuck onto Derek’s shelf.

 

Ransom turned and whistled lewdly, "Ooh shit Holtz, he totally does." He sniffed the air dramatically, "Smells all content and shit too!"

 

"Shut up!" Dex growled but felt it completely lost since he was sorta smiling while he did it.

 

"Dammmmnnn, so it's like that." Holster laughed. The edges of his mouth turned down and his eyes warmed in a classic bro _oh, okay_ nod.

 

Nursey shuffled in a few minutes later with the rest of the team.  He gave Dex a sweet, private smile while he stripped out of his sweats.

 

"Holster can I borrow--" Nursey began but Dex cut him off.

 

"I got you some contact solution."

 

Nursey blinked, and seemed to just see the bottle.  Dex had remembered how he was always borrowing Holster's contact solution before or after practices. Why he didn't put contacts in before practice, or why he didn't just keep some solution at the rink, Dex had no idea. But it felt nice, warm and blooming in his chest, to get Nursey something he actually needed and to see him bite his lip and open the bottle and glance over at Dex kinda shy like. 

 

"Thanks, Dex." Nursey said lowly and finished taking out his contacts and getting dressed.

 

When Dex took a cursory look around the locker room, feeling a little exposed because of the intimacy of his and Nursey's exchange, most of the team seemed to be distracted with their own pre-practice routines.  Ransom and Holster, however, looked suspiciously like they were betting on something, whispering fervently and looking back at him and Nursey every few seconds. 

 

Before they filed out to the bench, Ransom snuck a hand on his shoulder, "Way to go bro. I can tell that you—"

 

"Hey! No cheating Rans I swear to god!" Holster hissed behind them.

 

Ransom snickered and peeled away for warm ups.

 

Dex was too high on the fact that he was courting Derek fucking Nurse to get uptight about it. If it were solely up to him, he'd announce his intentions to the team, stake his claim, dare them to try and court Nursey better than him. He didn't think Derek would like that, so he kept it inside, between the two of them. Didn’t mean he was going to deny it either. Nursey was giving Dex a chance, which was maybe more than he deserved and certainly more than he ever thought he’d get. He could care shit all if people on the team found out.

 

-o-

 

It went like this. Dex and Nursey talked that night about their courting guidelines. Nursey demanded a price limit on gifts, Dex grouched a bit but conceded (as if he wouldn't give Nursey anything he asked for). Dex asked about the team and Nursey simply shrugged and said the guys would figure it out on their own but that he didn't care to hide it. That made Dex smile all goofy, which lead to a little tangent of kissing and groping.  Would Dex get tired of swallowing Nursey’s pleased whimpers? Never.

 

PDA was also ruled in. Dex's attempts at poetry were ruled out. Dex was relieved because he thought maybe Derek being a poet meant he would want sappy sonnets stashed in his backpack... Which Dex would do albeit badly.  Nursey just belly laughed and said "God no, that wouldn't be you. I don't want to date myself."  Dex kissed his neck then because he had used the word date and it sounded so nice. 

 

-O-

 

The first day of their courting, Dex brought Nursey fish tacos from his favorite Mexican place off campus. He even remembered to ask for the "salsa verde" and stashed that with the napkins on top.  Dex was glad he remembered the salsa verde, because grades were being posted and apparently one of Derek's Interpretive Methods professors was a "little elitist bastard" and didn't understand "shit all" about hip hop as a form of anti-oppression poetry in low-income communities.

 

"Fuck Dex, you're the best, I needed some El Amante today."

 

Dex hummed happily and shrugged off his back pack.  He ordered the steak burrito (el gordito esposo) and began demolishing it while Nursey fussed with the salsa. 

 

"So you got a bad grade?" Dex ventured. 

 

Nursey sighed. "Not bad, I guess, just not what I wanted."

 

Dex peeked at Nursey's computer screen when he rummaged the brown paper bag for a napkin and saw an A and an A- next to the two classes that had posted.

 

Dex smiled. So Nursey was a bit of an academic perfectionist, a grade snob. Who knew? Dex filed that away, settled it squarely under things he really liked about Derek Nurse and offered him a lime wedge.

 

"Oh hell yes." Nurse said thankfully, and then, "have your grades posted yet?"

 

"Only one, I did alright." Dex smiled, hoped it said all the things he wanted it to say, like: _I like getting good grades too and I don't think it's weird to pout over an A- when you know you did A work._

 

Nurse looked at him for a few seconds, he did that from time to time, and then focused on his tacos, a little smirk quirking the side of his mouth up. "Cool."

 

-O-

 

The second day of courting was almost a bust. Dex had asked Bitty to help him with a baklava recipe he found online because Nursey had said before break how much he was looking forward to the homemade baklava that his aunt always made for the holidays. But she had gone into labor earlier than her due date and didn't make any and when Dex had asked, Nursey just sighed and patted his stomach and said "gotta wait for the summer I guess". 

 

So Dex had scouted out a Lebanese market that looked legit and took an uber there and explained to the owner, Imad, what he needed and why. Imad smiled, clasped Dex’s shoulder and kindly put ingredients with Lebanese words on them in Dex's basket. Imad spent a little time explaining the purpose of each ingredient for the recipe and spent a little longer sharing sighed out stories of his courting days back in Lebanon. Apparently, it was common for Lebanese alphas to court their partner for a minimum of one year. They also needed permission from their partner’s family to finalize a claim. Imad wished Dex luck when he left and told him to come back for grape leaves if his boy wanted those too.

 

Bitty had never made baklava and Dex certainly hadn't either. It was going okay, he thought, until the stove decided to just not work at all and Dex had to tinker and tinker and tinker with it and Chowder was only keeping Nursey distracted for so long and Nursey kept texting him like; _Are you seriously not done laundry yet? I want to make out._

 

But the stove started working and him and Bitty were able to finish the baklava and get it cut up on a plate approximately 24 seconds before Nursey walked into the Haus kitchen. Dex hadn't even tasted it, not that he would know what it was supposed to taste like. 

 

The look on Nursey's face though...

 

"Bitty! Did you make Baklava?!" Nursey stared at the plate like it would morph into brownies if he looked away.

 

"It was Dex's idea, thought we'd try something new." Bitty singsonged while he pulled out the paper towels.

 

Dex blushed. He knew he would but couldn't do anything about it. Nursey was looking at him like he was Pablo Neruda or E.E. Cummings or one of those other super famous, super talented poets he was going on about.

 

"We haven't actually tried it to see if it's like poisonous or something." Dex hedged, trying to keep his heart in his chest.

 

"William Poindexter, I will have you know that nothing that I make is poisonous. And, now that you've completely let yourself out of the bag as an excellent kitchen hand. I intend to collect." Bitty reprimanded from across the island. That had been their deal, Dex would offer an extra pair of hands in the kitchen, in exchange for a (hopefully) delicious baklava pastry.

 

"Dex this is..." 

 

Before Nursey could finish the rest of his sentence the Haus herd came barreling in-- the smell of food, let alone new food, incentive enough.

 

They littered the kitchen with comments and questions, many wanting to know what Bitty had made. Nursey took on some explanation duties, telling those people who didn't know where baklava came from and that yes, it was sweet and not in a rosewater way, in a real dessert way. He also put two fingers to his mouth and fluttered his eyelashes when he took his first bite and made this _sound_ that forced Dex to back out of the kitchen toward the bathroom so that he didn't embarrass himself by stenching up the air with his arousal.

 

After he threw some water on his face and on the back of his neck he opened the door to Nursey barging in and shutting it behind him. Nursey straight _shoved_ his tongue down Dex’s throat and Dex could taste the sticky honey and the salty pistachios all over his mouth.

 

"Thank you Dex, just... thank you." Nursey whispered between peppered kisses and Dex knew he did good. Real good.

 

Dex was glad then that he didn't just buy Baklava. He thought maybe Nursey's kisses wouldn't be as urgent or his arms around Dex's neck as tight.

 

-o-

 

The third day of courting was hard. Dex felt like he couldn't top his own Baklava idea. He googled romantic courting gestures but didn't think any of them were right. He even called Jemma who suggested he call their mom.

 

His mom recommended love notes. But Dex explained about the poetry thing and being exempt from writing them and his mom just giggled and said, "who said it had to be a Poindexter original? There are plenty of poets to cite that I'm sure he'd appreciate."

 

Dex mulled it over. 

 

In the locker room that morning, Ransom and Holster played a Tupac throw back. Dex got to watch, amused and helplessly adoring while Nursey rapped the first and second verse. _Some say the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice, I say the darker the flesh, the deeper the roots_....The team hooted and applauded and asked where Derek was hiding his sick flow and demanded a team lip sync party at some point before graduation. 

 

It gave Dex an idea.

 

Hoping that Nursey remembered that he had told Dex about his paper where he argued that hip-hop _was_ poetry, Dex hand wrote out an excerpt of the lyrics to A Tribe Called Quest’s _Bonita Applebum_ in a leather journal his uncle had given him for his high school graduation. It was a strong material, but soft to the touch. The inner covers were lined with a sepia-toned world map.  He had never used it and it felt like something Nursey might like more than Dex anyway.

 

_Derek--_

_I don't think this is breaking the rules—_

_Do I love you?_

_Do I lust for you?_

_Am I a sinner 'cause I do the two?_

_Could you let me know_

_Right now, please_

_Bonita Applebum_

_Bonita Applebum, you gotta put me on_

_Hey Bonita, glad to meet ya_

_For the kind of stunning newness, I must have foreseen ya_

_Hey, being with you is a top priority_

_Ain't no need to question the authority_

_Chairman of the board, the chief of affections_

_You got mine's to swing in your direction_

_Hey, you're like a hip hop song, you know?_

_Bonita Applebum, you gotta put me on ….._

Dex wrote out the equation for infinity like the dork he was and signed it. He was able to slip the journal into Derek's backpack before afternoon skate. That time, Dex was pretty certain some other wandering eyes caught him.

 

Before dinner, Dex's phone greeted him with the following texts from Nursey;

 

_Come over._

_Now._

 

Dex was not ashamed to say he jogged to Nursey's dorm. Mostly he was excited, but a little part of him was nervous and unsure. Maybe Bonita Applebum was a bad reference? It was a booty reference after all, but Dex thought Nursey might have seen the humor in it. Maybe Nursey really _really_ meant no poetry of any variety from anyone. Maybe Nursey hadn't even seen it yet and just needed help fixing his fridge (again).

 

His fears were assuaged the instant Nursey opened the door. 

 

"Does jacking ourselves off count as first base?" 

 

Dex gaped, ugly like a fish left flopping in a boat. Nursey _smelled_ turned on and looked dead serious.

 

Well, Dex never claimed to be a saint.

 

"No, no I don't think so."

 

"Good."

 

Nursey tongue fucked Dex's brains out while they both stripped out of their clothes. They made it to Nursey's bed, a trail of sweats and hoodies and socks and sneakers behind them. Nursey pulled Dex's hips down against his own, rubbing their dicks together, just once for a few seconds.  They both groaned and clenched their jaws.

 

"Fuck Dex I'm so wet, never been this wet from just rubbing off on somebody." Nursey gasped, hand lightly stroking his own dick. 

 

Dex kept himself on his knees, leaning over Nursey, bracketing his head with one forearm. He squeezed the base of his own cock, very nervous he would come too soon. 

 

"Can't wait to taste you again, Nurse. Want you to come from me eating you out just right."

 

"Ugh, fuck yes, you're so hot between my legs, you're face getting fucking wrecked, shit." Nursey's voice hitched and Dex watched, completely entranced as his abs rippled and tightened, as the head of his cock reddened where it was arched angrily toward his belly button.

 

"You're so beautiful, so gorgeous." Dex complimented, dopey on the sight of Nursey naked and pulling at his own dick. "So fucking perfect."

 

"Dex I'm gonna--" Nursey moaned and then demanded, "kiss me."

 

Dex tried, he really did. It was mostly a wet press of lips and tongue because Nursey was coming on Dex and his own stomach, shaking and scratching lines down Dex's back with his free hand.

 

"Nursey, can I, can--" Dex didn't want to be rude, someone else's semen was different than your own, but words were hard.

 

"Yeah babe, of course, let me see."

 

Dex stroked himself like he wanted, curling his hand over the head on the upstroke. It didn't take long. With Nursey saying shit like, _fuck you're so hot, yeah come on._

 

He grunted when he came, cock pulsing and making more stripes along Derek's abs and chest. And fucking Nursey arched up into it, like getting marked up by Dex's seed had a direct line to his pleasure gland.

 

"Yesss Will, fuck." Nursey's voice was rasped up and _dirty_ sounding.

 

"Shit, shit." Dex muttered in between gulps of air.  Distantly, Dex hoped the level with which Nursey turned him on would come down a notch or two over time or else he didn't see how he could make it much past what they just did.  It was probably a fool's hope.  Nursey was a Greek god, a perfect specimen, that swoosh of the net after a clean goal.  He could probably _tell_ Dex to come, and he would. 

 

"You good babe?" Nursey slurred, hands rubbing up and down Dex's upper arms.

 

"So good." Dex nuzzled Derek's neck. He kept breathing in his scent, over and over, to burn it in the back of his throat. It had curled from something spicy and fierce to something peppered with little sweet notes.

 

"Holy shit Dex, your knot!" Derek exclaimed suddenly.

 

Dex winced. He knew his knot was big. It was big in that way that was hard for some people to enjoy. While is cock was on the longer and thicker side, it was still squarely in the pleasurable category not the circus freak category but his knot... blurred the line a little.

 

"Oh shit the stretch when that's in me is gonna be mega." Derek continued.

 

"I know, I know. You don't-- My last girlfriend didn't want it all the time either because it took so much prep. Its fine, don't worry." Dex reassured. His knot ached, being left outside but it was perfectly manageable and definitely preferable to any sounds of discomfort that Nursey might make if the knot was larger than he liked.

 

"What are you talking about? It's gonna be epic, I literally thought they only made toys this big." Nursey reached out with both hands, and dazedly groped Dex’s knot. Calloused palms sent shivers down Dex's spine straight to his balls.

 

Dex sucked in a breath, "You don't think you'll mind it?"

 

"Fuck no." Nursey whispered and then grabbed Dex's hand and placed it over his very very soaked entrance. "Thinking about this inside me?" Dex literally felt Nursey's hole gush and flutter. He groaned deeply, body unable to process the spike of arousal so soon after he just came. "Gets me so wet. Makes me feel way to empty right now."

 

Dex let a growl rumble in his chest. He couldn’t, he distracted himself with something else. "Let me lick you clean?"

 

Derek sucked in a breath, hands squeezing on Dex's biceps. _Oops, too much?_ Come play didn't catch everyone's fancy.

 

"Sorry, sorry--" Dex started.

 

"Shhh, that's so fucking hot, I'd like that, for sure, once we're actually, like, having sex but right now I think it'd get me hard again." Derek smiled self depreciatingly and Dex kissed it away.

 

They agreed showering together would be a bad idea so they grabbed shower stalls side by side instead. Nursey loaned Dex a towel. A very plush, probably ridiculously expensive towel. 

 

Dex focused really hard on hockey plays, and the awful effects of climate change, and the general state of the economy and NOT on what Derek looked like with water sluicing down his body.

 

After, when Derek's hair was still damp and curling at the edges, he pulled out Dex's journal. 

 

"I liked this." Nursey intertwined their hands. "And the contact solution, and the tacos and the baklava."

 

Dex smiled.

 

"Maybe this is the equalist in me showing, but, I wanted to do something for you too." Derek spoke the words haltingly, like maybe Dex would be mad? Like Dex would tell him ‘no’, his way of courting or nothing at all. No chance.

 

"Yeah?"

 

"Um, but, okay I want to talk about the money thing first."

 

Dex's brow furrowed but he nodded for Nursey to continue.

 

"Okay so, I have a lot of money, which I feel like you know."

 

Dex nodded again, wondered where this was going, but tried to keep his face attentive and open, like how Nursey did when they talked about the courting thing. 

 

"So I was wondering if, in terms of courting and gifts and stuff like that, we maybe do like a percentage equation so that while I spend more money it's like proportional to what I have." Nursey screwed his mouth up and looked down at his lap. "Is that, like, is that too weird?"

 

"Um," Dex digested that. He didn't like the idea of Nursey spending money on him at all. But, if he followed that thread down to its core, he didn't like it because it felt like maybe it was a hardship. Like Maybe Nursey was taking from himself to give to Dex.  But Nursey said it would be proportional and that Nursey had a lot of money so it wouldn't be like that at all. "Just tell me one thing, why do you feel like you want to spend that much money?"

 

Nursey licked his lips, "It's not that I want to spend a lot of money specifically. It's just, sometimes I think of things that I think you'd like and it's no big to order them or get them but it's more money than we agreed on so I don't."

 

"And you want to get them for me because..."

 

Nursey's eyes squinted like it was a trick question, "because... I like you. Isn't that why you get things for me?"

 

Dex released a tight breath and smiled in relief, "yeah, yeah it is." He had hoped Nursey didn’t feel indebted or something. That wasn’t what courting was about. It was meant to be about displays of affection, of service. Of showing an omega that an Alpha was worthy of their affection. The last thing Dex wanted was for Derek to think that meant he owed Dex something.

 

"So... Is that cool?"

 

Dex scooted closer to Nursey pulled his hand up to his mouth and pressed a soft kiss to the back of his knuckles. It would be hard, having Nursey spend money on him but… "Yeah, that's cool."

 

Nursey sighed, his scent shifting from something a bit sour to spicey and sweet again.

 

"But," Dex added quickly, "I want an _actual_ equation, like a real one, not a loosey goosey Derek Nursey ballpark  number."

 

Nursey laughed, "Whatever." And then proceeded to hop off the couch in glee and come back out with a very nice, very expensive looking toolbox "This is as much for the Haus as it is for you. But you're always muttering about dull drill beds that don't do shit and Holster said one day the Haus appliances are going to like, electrocute you or something so..."

 

Dex ran his fingers over the box. Had Derek felt like this when Dex did nice and thoughtful things for him? Fluttery and light and bursting? 

 

"Nurse..."

 

"We can keep it in the Haus basement if it's--"

 

"We are NOT keeping this in the Haus basement." Dex flipped opened the lid and looked at the tools inside. "No one in that building can be trusted with these. Except maybe Zimmerman."

 

"You like it?" Dex looked up and relished Nursey's manic smile. 

 

"Of course I do, it's awesome!"

 

That answer got Nursey in his arms. They made out some more and decided to very obviously, maybe stupidly, order-in for dinner and ignore Rans, Bitty, Holster, Chowder and even Shitty's texts. They did answer Lardo who group texted them both: _If you order pizza I'm telling coaches on you._

They simply sent her a picture of ribs and a salad and she texted back a thumbs up. Dex didn’t say anything but he was pretty fucking pleased that the team would probably draw their conclusions before practice the following day.

 

-O-

 

The final day of pre-sex courting was much more practical. Derek was very passionate about consent issues in A/O relationships, sexual openness, and frank discussion. Dex researched some basic kink lists and sexual relationship tests and offered them to Derek in an organized packet (complete with tabbed, color-coded sections).  Dex said, "I already filled mine out. If you want to, you can do yours and we can compare notes after lunch."

 

Nursey smiled wide and full, "For sure."

 

They intentionally sat in Nursey's living room for the conversation, since the bed "had too many associations" according to Nursey. They decided that going through question for question and then stopping when there was a big difference or something confusing was the appropriate strategy.

 

5 minutes into their mutual review of various sexual positions, Nursey said, "Wait, wait, you literally put the same number for all the positions on here." Nursey’s glasses were perched adorably on the tip of his nose. He adjusted them absently with his pointer finger.

 

"Not true, I put a 3 for the Fire Hydrant because I think its too risky with our body mass."

 

"So you're saying you'd be just as into me riding you than you pounding me from behind? Seriously?"

 

Dex shrugged. He was a little confused by Nursey's reaction. They had already talked about how Nursey pretty much exclusively bottomed. Although he was willing to try topping again, the couple times he had were completely dissatisfying so he probably wouldn't be doing it much. Dex himself didn't have a problem switching, but was relieved that he would be mostly topping in their relationship since he was the one with the knot that ached like hell when it wasn't actually inside something. So why would Nursey riding him be an issue?

 

"I guess, its just as hot as any other way that we'd be fucking."

 

"Yeah, but..." Nursey pressed his lips together like he'd rather not say. Of all people, Dex should have been the one to be hesitant in this conversation.

 

"What?"

 

"It's just, most alpha's I've been with don't like it." That was... unexpected. Why would alphas have a problem with a gorgeous omega bouncing on their dick? Also, who were these other alphas (plural) and how could Dex beat them up and threaten their lives without Nursey finding out. And Nursey would _never_ be able to find out because he was basically a pacifist and Dex wouldn't want to upset him. But Jemma would totally help if she--- "Stop with that face." Nursey whacked him in the arm.

 

"Maybe they were weird, or something. I dunno, I think most alphas would like it." Dex defended.

 

"So, if I was riding you, and telling you to stay still so I could just like rub my prostate on your dick for a bit and maybe even holding your biceps down you would...."

 

"Uh, try really hard not to come too fast?" Dex shifted his legs restlessly. He could picture that, Nursey using him to please himself, riding him, gasping out sharp commands that Dex would do instantly and Nursey would scream and grind down harder. Yeah... amazing....

 

"So, you're going to get mad, but in my experience, most alphas feel like the position is too submissive." Dex did get mad, he felt his face flushing even as he took a breath to start on a long angry rant about these terrible terrible alphas that seemed to exists _everywhere_. "See? Stop that! I'm just telling you because I rated that position as a 10." Derek drew in a deep breath and set the packet aside to look Dex right in the eyes. "So, this is gonna come up as we keep going because, well maybe its not weird to you, but I've come to figure out that I like having a fair amount of control during sex, I like telling you how I like it and when to go harder and deeper or to pull out and wait and not to come until I want you to, until I'm ready. So.. yeah."

 

Dex didn't see how any of it wasn't just regular sex. So he wasn't quite sure what to say. "Um, it seems like you think I should have a problem with that, but, um it all just sounds hot and sex-like so... cool?"

 

"Cool?" Nursey asked, voice flat and eyebrow arched challengingly. And then under his breath cursed, "fucking confusing traditionalist packs."

 

There were a few more moments like that, mostly from Nursey who was surprised by Dex's "seemingly basic as fuck in the bedroom exterior but actual kink monster interior." Dex didn't think he was kinky, he thought he was normal. All his locker room talk and bantar with friends never lead him to believe he liked weird things in the bedroom. His experience to date had been, if it made your omega (or sometimes beta) partner scream and curse and say shit like, "fuck yeah, just like that" than you were doing it right.

 

So things they agreed on, oral: Dex eating Nursey out, giving and receiving blowjobs (neither Derek nor Dex minded kissing after), Knotting (Derek wanted to be knotted everytime they had sex because ‘it just doesn't feel as good otherwise’). Dex had to think about drowning baby animals to not get hard. Light bondage here and there when discussed, maybe wax play in the future, definitely coming on one another and Dex licking Nursey clean, only wearing condoms if Nursey was off heat suppressants, and any positions that Nursey rated a 8 or above (because he was right, Dex had basically rated everything as a 10). Marking was also a big one for both of them (bites, scratches), nipple play for Derek (Dex liked it too, but his nipples weren't so sensitive).

 

Dex drew a hard line at breathplay, and Derek didn't push at all. They both ruled out things like punishment spankings, and long session erotic flogging or crops or impact play generally. Dex was kinda interested in edging, and Derek said he would try it as long as he wasn't the one being edged. So they put that down too. Dex didn't want threesomes and while Derek had dabbled in them in the past seemed fine by that limit. Dex also said that he didn't like having sex while wasted and explained that once in high school he woke up with this guy he had been hooking up with and the dude asked 'did we fuck last night?', which they had and Dex wanted to throw up. The guy seemed fine with it, chalked it up to being wasted, but Dex never hooked up that sloshed again. Derek nodded solemnly and added, “besides, it’s never good that sloppy no matter how much you want it in the moment.”

 

List compiled and discussed, there was more than enough material for later that night, after dinner...at the hotel.

 

Dex could barely contain himself. He made an excreted effort to pay hyper-focused attention during the team’s afternoon team meeting. Coach decided to make their practice a light one, to keep their legs fresh for the game the following day. Dex didn’t think he appeared too distracted. Though, the low whistles from his teammates after they showered suggested otherwise.

 

They ubered to the hotel in downtown Providence. Dex bit his lip when the driver pulled up because he was fairly certain it would be the nicest hotel he had ever stayed in.

 

Dex dutifully followed Nursey inside, trying his best to keep his eyes from going too wide and giving away that Derek was totally slumming it with him. He resolutely kept his hands to himself while Derek checked-in. He wanted to reach out, hold Nursey’s hand, nuzzle his neck, but he was frightened that if he started, he wouldn't stop. The receptionist didn't need to be a mind-reader to know what they were up to. She smiled knowingly when she handed over the key to the room and Derek all but snatched it and ran away, dragging Dex by the hand behind him.

 

Derek whined low and needy when they were alone in the elevator. "Can't decide if I want you to fuck me fast and hard the first time so we actually have the mental capacity to do fun things the second time, or maybe oral and then fucking."

 

Dex shivered and squeezed Derek's hand, "Whatever you want babe."

 

Nursey groaned and banged his head against the mirrored wall, "You know saying that shit turns me on, right?"

 

"And that's... a bad thing?"

 

Nursey growled, frustrated, "No, it's not, it's just I think you don't realize you're doing it and then I'm fucking hard in a hotel elevator."

 

Dex didn't mention that he'd had a semi since the uber ride.

 

Thankfully, the elevator ride wasn't too much longer and they were able to make it to the door of the room with only minimal groping. Once they passed the threshold, however, Dex was only able to catalogue that Derek ordered them a _Junior Suite_ before his arms were filled with a needy Derek, whimpering and pawing at both their clothes. Dex did his best to steer them to the bedroom with his mouth pretty much attached to Nursey's. By the time Nursey's back hit the bed, he was naked except for his underwear.

 

His skin looked stunning against the white bedding. Dex almost couldn't breath.

 

"Babe." Derek whined. "Get nakeddddd"

 

Dex chuckled and stripped his jeans the rest of the way off, his eyes never leaving Nursey's. While he kicked off his sneakers, Nursey rolled his black briefs off his hips.

 

Damn.

 

But Derek was gorgeous, a fucking dime.

 

"Let me eat you out, Derek, please." Dex begged. He wanted to kiss every inch of Derek's skin. He wanted to suck and bite, and listen to what Derek sounded like when he was falling apart.

 

"Yes, fuck yes." Derek allowed. "But kiss me first, slow, I'm all worked up."

 

Dex obeyed instantly. He draped his body over Nursey's and tried to cool the now now _now_ feeling of his body. He licked softly into Derek's mouth, taking the time because they had it. He let his hand trail over Derek's chest, thumb stroking a nipple the way he knew Derek liked it. Nursey whined and arched his chest, tightening his arms around Dex's neck and making sure they both felt the slide of their dicks against one another.

 

When Dex pulled back, Nursey's lips were swollen and his eyes slanted with lust.

 

"Go slow. I'm close. Been waiting for this." Nursey directed.

 

Dex nodded as he dipped his head down Nursey's body. He bit and sucked marks over his chest, along his nipples, one deep one on his hip bone. He lapped up the juices that had built between Nursey's inner thighs and cheeks and was contemplating biting Nursey's ass when Nurse grabbed his hair and yanked his head toward his entrance.

 

"Dex, come on, I need it."

 

Well, he asked so nicely. Dex plunged forward, eager to please and dying to taste. Although different from the last time, Nurse didn't taste any less amazing. A bright burst of spice with notes of something sweet.   It was that unmistakable flavor on his tongue that made Dex's cock thicken and twitch. That, combined with the pull of Nursey's fingers in his hair and the desperate sounds of pleasure he made every time Dex tried to wiggle his tongue into the tight ring of muscle. The whole experience had Dex in sex overdrive, warm but ultra focused on Nursey's needs.

 

"Finger me baby, I'm too empty." Nursey gasped out. That was good, Dex needed that. He pulled off a bit, high on Nursey's taste and smell, and slotted not one but two fingers into Nursey's drenched hole. Derek howled and pumped his hips, getting Dex deeper inside. Derek had said, during their discussion, that he liked a quick burning stretch from the start. He explained that one finger was just annoying, when he was restless and turned on he wanted to feel full as quickly as safety would allow. Dex added a third finger well before he might have with another partner and was manipulating Derek's prostate with such aggressive rubbing he was in awe that Nurse _hadn't_ shot off yet or hissed in pain. He sounded like he was ready to go any minute.

 

"Dex, dex, dex!" Nurse chanted, hips circling and fucking grinding down on his hand. Dex couldn't take it, his free hand reached for his own aching cock.

 

"Fuck babe you're so hot right now, my hand is soaked that's how good you're feeling, huh? Gonna come just watching you."

 

"Nnnnn." Derek pulled on his cock, hand roughly tugging and hole clamping and unclamping around Dex's fingers. "Babe, I'm..." Nurse's cock twitched a couple of times and then shot off ropes of come over his stomach. Dex licked his lips, Derek said he could taste that too and he couldn't wait.

 

Unsurprisingly though, it was the sight of Nursey's expression, his mouth fallen open and his eyebrows scrunched in pleasure that set Dex's own orgasm spiraling off. Dex had a fleeting thought that he would get to memorize that face, that expression of overwhelming pleasure. And maybe, if he played his cards right, would be the only one to ever see it again.

 

Dex didn't worry himself with the carpet, the hotel had certainly seen worse, he was sure. He simply eased his fingers out of Nursey and wiped them on the bedspread.

 

Mind pleasantly satisfied he got to work on lapping up Nursey’s come from his lower abs and stomach, while keeping a loose hold on his aching knot.

 

Dex imagined it was his wolf instincts that made the lapping gesture such a natural extension of his sexual drives. Someone had a made a joke once about it, on his old team, and Dex remembered everyone laughing and commiserating about what it would be like to have a prude of a partner that didn't like it. It made Dex feel like maybe it was normal, a wolfish instinct held over, but after his conversation with Nursey he wasn't so sure. The important thing was, Nursey didn't mind. He just hummed and gently scratched at Dex's scalp and giggled a little because apparently he was ticklish.

 

Nursey snached Dex to his mouth before he could pull away far enough in the direction of the bathroom. He had been interested in getting an actual washcloth but having Nursey taste himself on Dex's lips seemed like a much better idea.

 

After returning with a warm washcloth that they passed between them. Nursey reached his arms up and stretched, completely unabashed by his body because he had every right to be. Dex kinda wanted to put clothes on but didn't want Nursey feeling uncomfortable. He settled for slipping his sweats on and hoping onto the bed. Nursey purred and curled into him, nuzzling under his neck.

 

"You hungry?"

 

"A little, not too bad." Dex wrapped his arm around the back of Nursey's shoulders and made a decision to give him a pretty mark there the next time they started back up.

 

"I'm gonna order fruit from room service."

 

Dex pressed his lips together, room service sounded like an unnecessary expense on top of a fancy hotel room that Derek didn't have to get in the first place. When Dex thought about it, he actually did have a protein bar in his bag, he wondered if Nursey wanted it.

 

"Stop that." Nursey whined, "It's just fruit Poindexter." Nursey called in the order, asked for extra yogurt and extra strawberries (Dex's favorite fruit) and sat back against the headboard, satisfied.

 

"How come you put those back on?" Nursey asked, finger hooking once into the waistband of Dex's sweats and running back and forth flirtatiously.

 

"Some of us were not so blessed with your adonis-like beauty, asshole." Dex nudged at Nursey shoulder, smile fond.

 

Surprisingly, Nursey's eyes sobered a touch, eyebrows quirking "You do know you're hot, right? Like I know the guys joke about your hair and your freckles and shit--"

 

"And ears." Dex reminded dutifully.

 

"Yeah, and ears, but its like okay because you're hot. You know, like we never actually say shit about Jacks anxiety cuz its a real thing. You _not_ being hot is not a real thing."

 

 _You not being hot is not a real thing._ Dex squeezed his eyebrows together. He thought Nursey was giving him a compliment but he couldn't figure out what exactly he was trying to say. It sounded like Nursey was attracted to him so Dex just replied "Um, thanks?"

 

Nursey sighed, all disappointed and professorial. "Dex.... rule number 1 of locker room chirping: don't chirp people about shit that would actually make them feel bad. That's why people always chrip me about being an undercover pothead or an easy lay because I'm not actually any of those things. Well, an easy lay, maybe but not in a bad way, in a like, I enjoy sex with people of all designations way. Get it?"

 

"Sure.” Dex smiled playfully. “You think I’m hot.”

 

“Ugh. You can be infuriating sometimes. Yes, I think your hot and probably most of the Samwell population.” Derek shoved him, eyes rolling fondly.

 

Dex wasn’t sure about the general Samwell population, but his boyfriend thought he was attractive, and Dex liked that.

 

The room service came shortly after that. They snacked on the tray, throwing food at each other when they fake argued about the Rangers chances against the Sharks…but they kinda made kissy eyes at each other all the while. With only a few stray pieces of cantaloupe left, Dex wasn’t surprised at all when Nursey nudged at Dex’s sweats and said, “take those off.”

 

Dex did, of course, and his cock was already half hard to boot.

 

“How do you want it?” Dex asked, already breathy as he lazily tugged his cock to hardness.

 

Nursey shuddered, eyes fluttering just once. “On your back.”

 

Dex licked his lips, at once excited and nervous. It felt like they were crossing a line, dipping into territory that meant they weren’t going to be the same after as they were before. It felt like Dex was going to get to keep Nursey, like somehow introducing sex into their relationship signified a type of permanence. It was a heady thing.

 

“Don’t move.” Derek instructed, a wicked smile sending Dex’s stomach into leaps.

It was Nursey’s turn to explore, to nip and suck and bite. Dex fluctuated between sharp intakes of breath and moaned out releases of air. Which was all nothing compared to the loud groan that Nursey caused when he licked a strip from the base of Dex’s balls up to the tip of his cock.

 

Fuck.

 

Nursey teased him like that, gentle little kitten licks, until his cock was straining and leaking at the tip.

 

“Fuck Nurse” Dex repeated. He could only watch helplessly as Nursey flicked his tongue in and out of Dex’s slit a few times. It was all Dex could do to keep his hips flush to the bed. “Fuck.” Dex’s toes curled and his abs strained against the teasing pleasure. It was over-stimulating in its gentleness and yet not enough at the same time. Fucking perfect.

 

“Mmmm.” Derek licked his lips and reached behind himself to touch his hole. “Ready, babe? I wanna sit on this gorgeous fucking dick.”

 

“Yes, fuck yes, please.”

 

Derek beckoned Dex to sit up against the headboard and guided his hands to Derek’s big hockey asscheeks. “You gotta keep me spread so I can take it deep.” Derek explained. Dex’s brain just about feel out of his head. In this position, Derek would certainly be doing most of the work because Dex wouldn’t be able to pump his hips too forcefully.

 

They kissed first, letting the tension build. Dex kneaded Nursey’s asscheeks and passed his thumbs over his already stretched hole.

 

Derek pulled away, planting one hand on the headboard while the other reached back to grab Dex’s cock.

 

“Love how big you are baby, its gonna burn so good.” Derek babbled.

 

His mouth formed an oh sound but only little gasps came out as the head of Dex’s cock breeched him. Dex groaned, watching Nursey’s face whil he took his dick…he could have died like that. Easily.

 

“You’re so tight baby. Feels amazing.” Dex watched, mesmerized, as more and more of his shaft disappeared into Derek’s body until Derek was flush, shaking and moaning.

 

“Fuck Will.” Derek whimpered and pushed his hips forward a bit. He circled his hips and grinded down on Dex’s cock, muttering ‘shit, shit, shit’ the whole time. Dex could tell he was rubbing his prostate, could see it in his blissed out expression.

 

“Feel good baby?” Will asked, needing to do something other than hold Derek’s bountiful ass open.

 

“So fucking good. You’re so big it, it feels like you’re everywhere.” Derek rose just a touch and came back down and gasped so sharply that Dex thought he might come.

 

Dex tried to get himself caught up in watching Derek and ignoring his own straining cock and aching balls. He didn’t want to come too soon, thinking of how good his dick felt inside one of the most gorgeous and wonderful people he had ever known?  It was a near thing. 

 

It got harder when Derek started working up to a steady pace. Pretty soon, he was pounding his hips down, using both hands on the headboard to pump his hips with more force. And the _filth_ out of his mouth, Dex could only groan and beg whatever gods were listening to let him last.

 

“So. Fucking. Good. Will. The way you split me open, fuck.” Derek moaned freely, voice vibrating and punched out because he was fucking himself so hard.

 

“Fuck baby, you’re so fucking hot.”

 

“Wait, wait.” Derek instructed and Dex stopped the little roll of his hips that he had been doing to help Derek along. “Can you shift down the bed without me pulling off?” Derek asked, voice wavering because he was breathing so hard.

 

“Yeah, course.” They worked together until Dex was flat on his back. Dex sucked in a breath, from this angle he could truly appreciate the view of Derek’s cock along with the rest of him. It was curved angrily toward his body, full and ready to burst.

 

“Yes, perfect, need you to fuck me Will, give it to me hard, I wanna come on your knot.”

 

Well then.

 

Dex grabbed Derek’s hips with both hands and it didn’t take long at all for them to find a perfect rhythm. Once that was settled, Dex flexed his muslces and fucking shoved up as Derek pumped down. Derek screamed, head tipped back and Dex was shocked his cock didn’t shoot off.

 

“Yes! Shit, like that!”

 

It was a total free fall from there.

 

“Baby, baby, I’m gonna, please let me—“

 

“Yeah, Will come on, wanna feel it.” Derek moaned and looked down, eyes locking with Dex’s. “Come on babe. Give it to me.”

 

Dex pushed up, hard, once and then twice and then he was coming, body straining, jaw clenched, hands gripping bruises into Derek’s skin. He felt his knot start to swell and biology took over because he kept making abortive pumping motions to try and get as deep into Derek as he possibly could.

 

“Oh, oh shit, fuck..” Derek chanted, surely feeling the stretch of Dex’s knot. “Shit, its so big.” He whimpered and shuddered and just when Dex’s knot was getting to his peak thickness, Derek fucking came, untouched, all over Dex’s chest.

 

Dex groaned, body sagging into the bed. Maybe they both blacked out for a few minutes, or possibly just Dex. But when Dex came back to his body, Derek was still shaking above him, face contorted into a shocked sort of pleasure. Dex rubbed at Derek’s thighs, over his hips.

 

“You okay baby?” His voice came out shredded, like the end of an overtime game.

 

“I’m so full, Will, shit. These aftershocks are crazy.” As if to demonstrate, one seemed to zing through him. They groaned in unison, because Dex could _feel_ Derek’s hole tightening and milking his knot. And with the size of his knot, Dex knew it was snug against Derek’s prostate, probably overwhelmingly so.

 

On fucked-out instinct alone, with no real thought process, Dex reached down where his and Derek’s bodies were connected and nudged at Derek’s balls. “Can I see?”

 

Derek whined, seemingly turned on but simply nodded and drew his legs forward so that he could bend and spread them as he leaned back. “Shit fuck, your knot, it fucking jolts my prostate everytime I move.” Derek cursed. Dex would have apologized except Derek’s expression was so clearly blissful that he assumed it wasn’t really a problem.

 

But fuck.

 

The sight of Derek’s stretched out hole could definitely kill him, since the mind blowing sex did not. It was tight and swollen where it was pulled taut over the base of Dex’s knot.

 

Dex reached out and traced Derek’s rim with his thumb. His juices were drenching Dex’s balls and groin. It was fucking amazing.

 

“Oh.” Derek shivered, body responding to even the slightest bit of stimulation to the area.

 

Dex did it again, this time he watched Derek’s half-lidded eyes.

 

“You like seeing your knot in me? Stretching me so wide?”

 

Dex groaned. “Fuck yes.”

 

“One day, I might even let you get a finger in there.”

 

Dex gripped Derek’s thighs and closed his eyes. It was apparently a kink they both shared, getting Derek filled to the max. Now though, seeing how stuffed Derek was with his knot, he could barely imagine something else fitting in there. But the thought still turned him on and clearly Derek knew it.

 

“Do you think your knot will last long enough for me to come again?” Derek asked as he rolled his hips.

 

Dex was pretty sure his heart would stop in the process or his brain would explode but he just said, “Yeah, it should, want me to jack you off?”

 

“Nah, just pump your hips, gently.” Derek instructed. He got his knees under him and took his dick in hand.

 

Dex did as he was told and rolled his hips up, both hands holding Derek’s hips steady.

 

“Fuck yeah, just like that babe.” Derek pulled ruthlessly at his cock, prostate being stimulated by Dex’s knot.

 

Dex loved it. Loved that he got to watch Nursey fall apart without the distraction of his own imminent orgasam.

 

“There you go baby, take what you need, so fucking beautiful.” Dex complimented.

 

Derek whined and got himself there with his own hand and Dex’s knot filling him up. Dex grit his teeth against Derek’s orgasam, his hole tightening almost painfully around Dex’s knot.

 

After, Derek sort of collapsed forward. Dex wrapped his arms around his shoulders and gently shifted them to their sides. Derek was loopy and basically passed out. So Dex just pressed kisses to any part of Derek’s skin that he could reach and gently, gently started pulling out when his knot finally began softening.

 

That jolted Derek back to semi-consioucsnees. He whimpered his dissent.

 

“What’s wrong beautiful?” Dex asked, hand on the base of his softened dick.

 

“’s too empty.” Derek complained. His hole tried to tighten around Dex’s flaccid cock in protest. Dex yipped.

 

“I’m sorry baby, I’ll bring a plug or something next time.”

 

Derek nodded against the pillow, lips pouting adorably. “Kay.”

 

When Dex managed to fully pull out, he gasped in surprise at the amount of fluids that gushed out of Derek’s body. “Shit.”

 

“’m so fucking wet.” Derek agreed.

 

Dex dropped down and instantly started lapping at Derek’s hole, tasting his own come and Derek’s spicey sweet juices. Fuck. Things he had to keep in mind for next time. What a fucking sight.

 

Derek whined, “Dex, babe, its sensitive.”

 

Dex growled, took a few more licks but pulled off. “Sorry.” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand—not nearly content with the job between Derek’s legs but satisfied enough.

 

“Next time.” Derek promised. “I’ll be prepared.”

 

Dex nodded. He got himself wiped down in the bathroom and came out quickly to do the same for Derek. He shook and whimpered when the washcloth was passed over his hole, but otherwise made no complaints.

 

He threw all his limbs around Dex when he returned to bed and Dex just chucked and arranged them so that Derek’s head was on his shoulder and his leg high around his waist.

 

“Sleep time.” Derek commanded.

 

“Little nap.” Dex argued. “We have to shower and strip the bed before real sleep time.

 

Derek growled cutely. “Fine.”

 

Dex kept his arms tight around Derek. But sleep came fast and hard, two orgasms and a gorgeous omega in his arms that kept emitting a satisfied and happy scent—Dex’s alpha instincts were in heaven.

 

-O-

 

They played amazing hockey the rest of the season (starting with the game the following night, which was a shut-out 3-0). But, that final trophy eluded them, as much as they wanted to win it for Zimms and Shitty and Lardo. Before they knew it, spring break on campus was over, and the season as well, and there were only a couple precious months left as a team.

 

May barreled toward them, making Dex wonder where the time had gone. They had made plans though. Dex was going to stay with Nursey’s family in New York the first two weeks of summer break and then Nursey was going to fly to Maine for the Fourth of July (when Dex could take time off of work). Nursey had paid for all their travel, despite Dex being a bit of a grouch about it. But it was nice too, knowing that they had a plan to see each other, that Dex would get to meet Nursey’s pack, his old friends and teammates. Similarly, Dex couldn’t wait to flaunt Derek around, show everyone how amazing he was.

 

“So, when does this courting thing end?” Derek asked, legs resting in Dex’s lap and Dex’s computer on top of them.

 

“When I formally request to claim you and you accept.” Dex bit at the pen in his mouth.

 

Derek scoffed, “So….when is _that_ going to be, oh chivalrous knight of mine?”

 

“I’m not telling!” Dex smirked at his screen. He could _feel_ the way Nursey’s eyes narrowed into his skull. He really wasn’t telling, claiming requests were meant to be a surprise.

 

“It’s almost May.” Derek reminded. Something in his voice, maybe the softness caused Dex to turn to look at him.

 

“I know, baby. Don’t worry.” Dex assured.

 

 

-O-

 

Dex didn’t do it at the final Haus party, or in front of everyone at the lip-sync battle. He certainly didn’t do it in the dining hall, like many other couples on campus were doing. Nursey wouldn’t like those things. _Dex_ would hate those things.

 

One of the last days of the semester, in a serendipitous turn of events that made it so that Dex and Nursey had finished their exams and papers before the end of testing week, Dex forced Nursey to go on a hike. They had both said all year that they wanted to do a nearby day-hike trail in Massachusetts. Dex borrowed Holster’s car, packed them some food and water, and pestered a sleep rumpled and grumbling Nursey out of bed and into the passenger’s seat by 6:12 in the morning.

 

By the time they started the trail, Nursey was amped up and giddy (and caffeinated). He pointed out cool look outs and listened, fascinated, as Dex told him about the flora and fauna they passed.

 

When they picked a place for lunch, Dex asked if Nursey would get the food set out while he cleared an area for them to sit.

 

Dex watched while Nursey unpacked the backpack, setting out water and sandwiches and…

 

“Dex?” Nursey’s eyebrows furrowed in that confused but interested thing that they did when he opened the box that was between the sandwiches and the fruit.

 

Dex moved to where Nursey was kneeling and kneeled down as well, “So, I dunno how it works in equalist packs, but in traditionalist packs when an Alpha claims their partner, they offer them a trinket or something that is important to them. It’s called the Claiming Gift.”

 

Dex licked his lips and pressed forward, nerves bubbling in his stomach, “This is the puck from the first goal I ever made.” Derek’s eyes widened. “Hockey’s always been one of the most important things to me and this has kinda been a symbol of that. I remember making that goal and knowing that hockey was always going to be a part of my life—like a part of me, you know? So, that’s exactly why I wanted you to have it.”

 

Dex breathed in and out. “Derek Nurse, would you allow me the pleasure of claiming you?”

 

Dex watched every moment in slow motion, Derek squeezing his hands around the old puck, eyes blinking, mouth spreading into a soft, loving smile.

 

“Of course.”

 

They didn’t finish the hike. But Derek carried Dex’s puck the whole way down the trail, and fiddled with it during the car ride back to campus, and put it very carefully back in the box Dex had given him and slipped into the backpack he was carrying on the plane when they flew to New York together.

 

Dex teased him, told him he didn’t have to keep it with him at all times for the claiming to like, be in effect.

 

Derek just narrowed his eyes and told Dex to mind his own business.

 

It was so…Nursey, that Dex said, suddenly and unthinkingly, “I love you.” And was taken aback by his own words.

 

Although it was the first time, Derek didn’t seem surprised at all. “Love you too.” He answered simply, and readjusted his beanie like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Readers,
> 
> Thank you for joining me on this fic! As always, all feedback welcome (especially any grammar edits you find, I'm a beta-less mongrel). 
> 
> I do have the beginnings of a one-shot written in the verse, so that should be appearing shortly. I'm always open to prompts/ requests that bait the muse :)
> 
> Wishing you all many New Year's blessings--
> 
> XoXo


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